Treading Water
by penny1200
Summary: When Puck learns Rachel can't swim before a big glee trip, he offers to teach her. Will their relationship grow, or will they kill each other first?
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the plot.

A/N: I'm so excited! This is my very first fic. It was supposed to be a oneshot, but the Will conversation happened and my ideas just kept growing, so it's multi-chaptered instead now. Please read and review.

Rachel Berry wasn't happy. Mr. Schuester had decided that the best way for the Glee Club to bond one last time before heading off into summer break was to take a trip to a nearby water park. Now, she couldn't deny that the club really needed a chance to relax and spend some time together socially. After all, they'd never completely recovered from babygate and their subsequent devastating loss at Regionals, and normally Rachel was all for club unity, but this was just pushing it too far. Surely they could bond appropriately in a way that allowed everyone to remain on dry land.

When Rachel vehemently protested this newest plan (and really, where did Schuester come up with his horrible ideas?), she knew exactly what everyone was thinking. They undoubtedly believed that she was experiencing typical female adolescent insecurities about her self-image. They would be very wrong though. It may have been a problem in the past, but she now had zero reservations about her body. She worked very hard to look the way she did, so she knew that she could hold her own against any of the Cheerios, even in a bikini. Besides, her average skirt was roughly the size of an overlarge headband; who could possibly believe that she had body image issues given that proof?

Despite appearances, Rachel was well aware that she was less than popular even within glee. Santana and Quinn still called her those ridiculous names (Manhands? Rupaul? Really? Her hands were incredibly feminine thank you very much. And she was clearly a girl. Had they not seen the skirts?). Brittany went along with them, but Rachel wasn't sure she actually understood that they were in fact insulting Rachel, seeing as the blonde believed that day and night came from the sun and moon playing hide and seek. In fact, she suspected that Brittany thought Rupaul was actually her middle name. Mercedes and Kurt both clearly thought that Rachel was a selfish bitch; they had never exactly been secretive about that. Finn and Rachel currently weren't speaking and hadn't been since they had broken up. Their relationship had gone along fine until, having finally gotten Finn's little problem under control (or so they thought), they decided to have sex for the very first time. Two extremely unsatisfying seconds later, Finn was crying at his inability to last and Rachel was trying really hard to keep her mouth shut. Because crying after sex? Totally not a turn on, not even for her, advocate of sensitive men. Things had gotten really awkward afterwards, and they broke up a mere two days later. Unfortunately, even though the relationship had long since disappeared, the awkwardness lingered. Finn couldn't even make eye contact with her without turning bright red. Mike and Matt were still really quiet, at least around her; Rachel didn't think she'd ever had a full conversation with either of them. Artie and Tina were perhaps the nicest members of glee to Rachel, but they were both wrapped up in their own issues since they were finally trying to overcome Tina's lie about her stutter and begin a romantic relationship.

And then there was Puck, or as she preferred to call him, Noah. While he hadn't gone back to throwing slushies on her and her fellow gleeks, tossing Kurt in dumpsters (though he sometimes really deserved it…_Bad Rachel!_), or trapping Artie in port-a-potties, he was still a Neanderthal. They never spoke, unless one counted his disgusting innuendos speaking (she didn't), but it seemed like she frequently caught him watching her. Everywhere. Seriously, she'd catch him staring at her in glee, tracking her movements in the hallways, and focusing on her in chemistry instead of the teacher. It was really creepy and always made her wonder what he was plotting to do to her next, because it couldn't be a good thing that he kept watching her like that. Even more disturbing was the sensation she'd get every time she caught him and he'd flash that smirk at her. It was like an itch under her skin and she wasn't sure how to get rid of it or what it was because it wasn't anything like what Finn had made her feel or even what she had felt that one week she had dated Noah during fall semester.

Anyway, back to the matter at hand-that blasted water park. Even Rachel's questionable standing among her teammates wasn't what caused her unhappiness with Schuester's latest idea. Granted, she wasn't looking forward to Noah's lewd comments about her swimsuit (_she really needed to go shopping for one of those_) or the oh-so-creative insults Quinn and Santana would throw at her in this new setting. Perhaps she should have been worried that, taking advantage of the copious amounts of deep water, Mercedes would distract Mr. Schue and the rest of the glee club while Kurt drowned her so they could split all of Rachel's future solos between them, but she wasn't. No, the thing that worried Rachel most was the fear that her deepest, darkest secret would be discovered. Her greatest shame. Something she had hoped to keep to herself all the way to her grave.

Rachel Berry never learned how to swim.

ooooo

As the final glee meeting of the year drew to a close that Tuesday, the final day of school, Rachel remained in her seat in the center of the front row. She waited patiently for the rest of the members to leave so that she could speak with Mr. Schuester about this asinine idea alone. Once the final member had drifted out (Finn looking determinedly at everything but her), she stood up, smoothed down her short purple skirt, and approached the teacher who was clearing the choir room of his personal items for the year.

"Mr. Schuester, I really think this trip is a substandard idea."

His head snapped up from the stacks of sheet music he was sorting through at the sound of her voice. "Rachel, why are you still here? I dismissed the group; you're free to go."

Crossing her arms and barely restraining the urge to roll her eyes, because _really, was he even listening_, Rachel forged on determinedly. "I believe that if I applied my considerable creativity I could come up with a much better bonding experience for our group. As it stands, everyone will merely split into their normal cliques and go their own ways once we arrive at the park. That really defeats the purpose of the entire experiment. If we truly wish to mend fences within the club and strive for a more cohesive unit next year, allowing us to triumph at Regionals, we need to do something where the entire group will be forced to interact."

Having made her point, and quite skillfully if she did say so herself, she waited for Mr. Schuester to respond. When a full 30 seconds passed and he was still deciphering her speech, she began to tap her foot impatiently. _It really shouldn't take a _teacher_ so long to form a coherent response_.

"Rachel," Mr. Schuester began slowly as if he was still working through what she said, "we've already decided on the water park. We made the decision as a group and the others seemed really excited about it."

"Clearly we did not decide as a group!" she exclaimed in disbelief. "I made it quite clear that I did not approve of the idea, but you merely ignored me as you always do. How will I ever push my 88 proposals for glee club through next year if you, as the team's academic advisor, never provide support to your team captain?"

"88? I thought you said you had 60 proposals?"

"Over 63, and new ideas never sleep Mr. Schuester," Rachel chastised the stunned teacher. "Who am I to argue when my muse rears its head? Besides, that figure came from clear back in November; of course the number has gone up since. Anyway, the number of proposals is irrelevant to this conversation. The point is that if I am to uphold my position as captain, I require your full support, something which has been sadly lacking all year."

Mr. Schuester was quiet for another long stretch of time as he sorted the last of the music. Rachel could feel the smile fighting to appear on her lips. She had clearly gotten through to him, so surely in just a few more seconds he would offer to hear her ideas on a new team outing and this whole water park business would be put behind them. Then nobody would learn of her embarrassing secret.

"You're right Rachel," he finally said. "I should support your efforts to improve the club." Rachel's grin broke out. "And I'll start that with the first practice next year." That same grin disappeared with those words, but Mr. Schuester, taking no note of her facial expressions, continued on, "We've already decided to go to the water park and there's simply no time to change the plan. I will, however, think about what you said. Everyone splitting up once we get there won't work, so maybe I'll require that the entire club stick together for the trip. That should fulfill your request for time together while waiting in line for the rides."

Slipping the last of the music into his bag, he grinned kindly at Rachel, completely oblivious to her discontent, and headed towards the door. "I'll see you on Saturday." And with that he was gone, leaving an unhappy glee club captain behind.

_Well that certainly didn't go as planned_, Rachel thought to herself as she stared at the door where the painfully unaware teacher had disappeared. Heaving an annoyed sigh, she went back to her seat and bent down to lift the handle of her pink roller bag.

"That's a view a guy could get used to."

Once again restraining the urge to roll her eyes, Rachel stood up, smoothed down the back of her skirt, and turned around to face the bane of her existence, who was currently lounging in the doorway. She strode forward confidently, pulling her bag behind her.

"Move."

"Don't feel like it," Puck smirked insolently.

Ignoring the itch that formed under her skin at the sight of that smirk, Rachel rested her free hand on her hip, cocked her head to one side, and addressed the infuriating boy.

"I have plans tonight and seeing as they don't involve you, you need to move. I require plenty of time to prepare." Her mind already on her plans to search the internet for swimming tips and an out-of-town public (she shuddered) pool to practice in, she missed the irritated look that crossed Puck's face.

"Maybe your plans should involve me," he stated firmly, looking down at her.

The harshness of his voice startled her out of her reverie. _Great. What had she done to annoy him now? _

Meeting his surprisingly intense hazel eyes, she questioned, "What will it take to make you move? And why are you even here?"

"Forgot my bag." He considered the first question. "I wouldn't mind knowing why you're so fucking set against the water park. Scared you won't measure up to the other girls? Santana does have one hell of body; Quinn too now that she's gotten rid of the baby fat." He leered at her, "I don't think you have anything to worry about though; not with a tight little body like that."

Fighting a blush (and losing), Rachel did roll her eyes this time. "Honestly, that's not something I worry about anymore. Plus, I'm not, you know, a bitch."

Puck smirked. "Cussing, Berry? Am I rubbing off on you?" He raised his eyebrows suggestively.

That damn blush deepening, Rachel shook her head at him. "Seriously, move. I need to go home." _She needed to get away from him, _but that part went unsaid.

Completely ignoring her, he continued to guess at the reason she didn't like the water park idea. "So it's not the thought of wearing a bikini," he paused for a moment with a faraway look in his eyes as if relishing that picture before continuing, "and you're too damn confident to worry that Kurt or Mercedes might try to drown you and steal your solos…"

_How the hell did he know that? _she wondered silently.

"…then that means," he hesitated briefly, considering. "Berry, can you swim?"

Extremely uncomfortable that he had stumbled onto her secret, and fairly quickly at that, she fidgeted with the handle of her bag and smoothed her skirt with the hand that had rested on her hip.

"Of course I can," she declared confidently, though she avoided eye contact. Those eyes of his always seemed to see too much.

"You can't, can you?" he crowed loudly, laughter rumbling up from his chest. "Berry, how the hell does that even happen? Shouldn't a _star_ be able to swim? Hell, my little sister can swim and she's fucking seven."

A blush of a different brand of embarrassment crept up Rachel's face. It was bad enough that he had discovered her secret shame, but did he really have to laugh at her too? _Well, she was Rachel Berry. She didn't have to put up with this. She definitely didn't have to put up with him._ Her resolve set, she dropped the handle of her bag, crossed her arms over her chest, and stared straight ahead at his chest.

"I spent my childhood in dance, vocal training, and piano lessons in order to become a triple threat," she said stiffly. "Swimming was not essential to my Broadway ambitions and so got pushed aside for other, more important lessons. I may not be able to swim, but I have other, more valuable skills instead." She lifted her head to meet his eyes proudly.

Wiping tears of mirth from his cheeks, Puck met her chocolate gaze head on and calmed down enough to say, "And that'll all do you a lot of good if you drown on Saturday." With that his composure was lost again and he collapsed against the doorframe in laughter.

Highly disturbed by Puck's clear insanity, Rachel took advantage of his slouching on the left side of the doorway to squeeze herself and her bag past him into the hallway. Inwardly fuming at his immature behavior, she nearly made it to the door to the parking lot before his voice called out from behind her.

"Berry, hold up a second!"

Despite her best instincts, Rachel found herself stopping and listening to his footsteps approach from behind her.

"So, how you planning to not drown Saturday?" he questioned, laughter still evident in his voice.

Not deigning to answer that, Rachel continued out the door into the parking lot. The sooner she was in her car and far away from him, the better. She came to a sudden stop though, when his hand landed on the bare skin of her upper arm. The unexpected heat from his touch actually shocked her into inaction.

Jerking his hand back as if he'd been burned, Puck looked down at the top of her shiny brown hair as she continued to avoid looking at him.

"Seriously, Berry, how are you going to learn how to swim by Saturday? You'd need private lessons to learn that quickly because no public class would have time with so many students. Actually, do they even offer swimming lessons to adults?" he wondered aloud.

"I'll figure something out; I'm Rachel Berry," she asserted before taking off again, head held high.

With her back to him, Rachel missed the fleeting moment of panic that crossed his face. His long-legged strides surpassed her quickly. He came to a stop in front of her, causing her to halt so that she wouldn't run into him.

"What is it now Noah?" _She was really running out of patience_.

"I'll teach you to swim," he offered, readjusting his black backpack on his shoulder nervously. (He had obviously fetched it from the room in the midst of his psychotic breakdown.)

She must have misheard him. "Huh?"

"I said I'll fucking teach you how to swim, Berry," he repeated, clearly annoyed.

She stood there dumbly staring at him. He had actually surprised her into silence. _Noah was being nice to her? Voluntarily? Outside of glee? What in the world was going on? Had hell froze over while she was in the choir room?_ She may not have understood the offer, but she was tempted to take him up on it. Still…

"I don't know, Noah. We barely speak and you're not exactly patient. I'm a quick learner of course, but even I may need to practice each step more than once. I don't exactly feel like having you drown me because I've asked questions. And anyway, we'd need a pool and I don't own one or this wouldn't be an issue. And, I don't even own a suit right now…" she said this all in one breath before Puck cut her off.

"First off, who the hell doesn't own a suit?" When she opened her mouth to respond, he continued, "I'll try to keep my patience as long as you try not to test it. And the pool? Babe, I'm a stud. I'm sure I can _convince_ a cougar to lend me her pool." He smirked lasciviously, placing extra emphasis on the word 'convince'. "You just buy a suit; I suggest a string bikini-less cloth to weigh you down, and I'll take care of the rest."

Rachel wrinkled her nose at his opinion on her swimwear and his undoubtedly dubious methods of convincing cougars. Shoving those distasteful thoughts aside, she considered his offer. On one hand this might be a really bad idea. She couldn't imagine how the two of them wouldn't fight nonstop for the duration of the lessons, but on the other hand, she really didn't want everyone to figure out that she couldn't swim. That would definitely tarnish her spotless image. _So, fight with Noah for a few days or be humiliated in front of the entire glee club on Saturday? _When put like that it wasn't a difficult decision.

Meeting those thickly-lashed hazel eyes, she thrust her hand out to him. "I acquiesce to your generous offer of assistance."

"English, Berry?"

"That means yes," she simplified for him, beaming.

He grinned lecherously as he took her hand, sending that same disturbing heat up her arm. "Awesome."

At his expression she frowned and just had to add, "But no string bikinis."


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot. I don't own Glee, the cookies and songs mentioned, or Dance Dance Revolution.

A/N: Wow. Just wow! You guys are awesome! I've gotten over 600 hits since I uploaded Chapter 1 yesterday; I never expected that sort of response. And, to my reviewers, thank you so much! Your support makes me want to keep writing. Reviews are like crack (I'd guess, not having ever tried it myself). Don't worry though, I'll never withhold a chapter to extort reviews. I'll publish them as I finish them. I currently have the third chapter done (I'll upload tomorrow) and the fourth is written though I still need to proof it. On a different note, the Dance Dance Revolution game used later on is the Supernova 2 version. I got the list of songs off Wikipedia, so I apologize ahead of time if I have a song listed that's not actually present on the arcade version of the game. The version I have at home is a PS2 version. If you stuck with me all the way, please read and review. Thanks!

Rachel was completely lost. She'd come straight to the mall after leaving Puck in the parking lot of the school, an annoyingly superior grin on his face. She'd been doubting the intelligence of accepting his offer ever since, but she kept reminding herself that it was worth it if she could learn to swim, and, more importantly, if no one ever found out she hadn't learned how to previously. This unfortunately led her to her current predicament, namely, standing in the middle of a tiny boutique, the walls of which were covered in brightly colored scraps of fabric.

Reaching out for a light pink bundle of cloth that seemed harmless, Rachel examined it, blushed, and hung it back on the wall rack. _That was supposed to be a swimsuit? Seriously? She had undergarments that covered more skin! _

This was why her current search for suitable swimwear had quickly become a predicament. She had come straight to this store because it only sold swimsuits. She expected the search to be quick, just a get in, get out trip. When she discovered that the shop apparently specialized in only swimsuits for hookers, she realized that it may take her awhile to find something she was comfortable in. Rachel didn't consider herself a prude, a bit conservative with her clothing maybe, but not a prude. Her sweaters and button down blouses weren't risqué in the least, but her skirts were notoriously short, so yeah, _definitely not a prude_. The swimsuits she had come across this afternoon were positively blush-inducing though, even the one pieces. And just the thought of wearing one of them in front of Noah was enough to make her want to call the lessons off and hide at home on Saturday. But Rachel Berry is not a coward so no way was she backing out. Still, she thought this was one situation where it might be handy to have a female friend, or even a mom. She certainly couldn't ask either of her fathers for assistance. They'd never let her out of the house in a single one of the suits for sale in this store.

Staring at a garish lime green leopard print micro thong bikini (and blushing as Puck's earlier suggestion floated through her head), Rachel sighed. She was making no progress alone, so perhaps it was time to throw herself on Kurt's mercy and ask for help. She really didn't want to (she was quite sure he'd ask for her soul as payment or, even worse, pick that horrid lemon yellow feather-trimmed concoction in the corner), but she was stuck. She needed help because if left on her own, she was basically guaranteed to walk out of the store without a swimsuit. And no way was she letting Puck teach her how to swim in the buff (though she was sure he wouldn't protest and maybe if she did, then he would…_Bad Rachel!_). Blushing furiously at her thoughts, Rachel decided she definitely needed help (possibly mental) and dug out her cell to dial Kurt.

As she scanned through her address book for his number, she heard a familiar female voice calling her name.

"Rachel?"

Turning her head to the right and peering between two of the racks in the center of the shop, Rachel spotted a blonde Cheerio looking back at her. Luckily, it was Brittany and not the other blonde Cheerio (Rachel really hoped to never meet Quinn in a store like this; _the insults, oh the insults!_). Rachel barely recognized her in jeans and a tank top, her hair down around her shoulders, instead of in her regulation Cheerios uniform and ponytail.

Forcing a small smile onto her face that came out as more of a grimace, Rachel responded. "Oh, hi Brittany. What are you doing here?"

A sunny smile on her face, the blonde replied, "I'm shopping for a new bikini. Is that why you're here? Oh, are you on the phone? I lost my phone again. Last time, I lost it I found it in the toaster." She cocked her head to one side in thought as she approached Rachel. "I wonder if it's in the toaster again. Maybe I should check when I get home. Hi!" Brittany bounced to a stop in front of Rachel.

Feeling vaguely stunned (_Brittany talks as much as her. Who knew?_), Rachel glanced down at Kurt's name highlighted on her phone display and then back up at the Cheerio watching her expectantly, smiling brightly, and made a decision. She slid her phone shut and dropped it back into her purse.

"I was actually just getting ready to call someone for help. I'm trying to find a new swimsuit too, but I'm not sure what would look good on me and most of these," she gestured around the room, "are too revealing for my tastes. Do you think…" she hesitated, looking for any sign of that 'Go away Crazy' look she tended to receive frequently. Seeing no sign of that look as Brittany's smile never wavered, Rachel continued, "Do you think you could help me?"

Brittany gave a happy little bounce and clapped her hands. "Sure!" Then, catching Rachel completely off guard, the blonde grabbed her hand and dragged her to the nearest wall of fabric.

The next block of time passed by quickly and Rachel actually had a lot of fun, surprisingly. For once, she found herself the listening half of a pair as Brittany chattered on about anything and everything. There didn't seem to be any particular order to the flow of her thoughts and she lacked a filter, but that actually just made it all the more entertaining. Rachel could understand her easily, because her own thought processes were similar, if on a slightly more academic level. In addition, the Cheerio was funny. Rachel learned a lot about her, including that she had three older sisters, wanted to visit the pyramids in France (yeah, Rachel didn't have the heart to correct her on that), and that her dearest ambition was to find out if there really is a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

"I don't know Brittany," Rachel hedged half an hour later as she studied the navy blue one piece with a neckline that plunged to the navel that the other girl was holding up. "I just don't think that would be a good choice for waterslides."

Brittany looked down at the suit consideringly. "You're right. Your boobs would probably pop out and that would be really embarrassing." After the two girls shared a short giggle, she tapped her chin for a moment as if deciding whether she wanted to say what she was thinking. Apparently she decided to go for it because she grinned widely and added, "I doubt Puck would mind though."

Rachel's startled gaze swung from the suit to Brittany's amused one.

"What?" she squeaked out, face turning red, and _really, after today, she was going to have a permanent blush_. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Brittany's expression fell with this resistance, but it immediately perked back up. "Oh, well, I'm sure you'll catch on soon. He's pretty obvious about it." Hanging the blue suit back up, she pulled down a tiny sunshine yellow thong bikini with black polka dots and, holding it up, asked, "What do you think of this one?"

Just over an hour after Brittany had found her and nearly two after Rachel had first entered the boutique (and several shared giggles over some of the more ridiculous suits, including the feathery one-they agreed-_no feathers in the pool_), the two girls made their final purchases. Brittany had settled on the yellow and black thong, which looked fantastic on her. Rachel had found a simple dark green backless one piece with hi-cut legs. She was quite happy with this suit even if it took them the better part of the hour to find it and it wasn't really a color she preferred. On their way out of the store, something caught Brittany's attention and she pulled Rachel to a halt.

"Ooh. That would look great on you Rach! You just have to try it on," she exclaimed, searching for the correct size.

And that is how Rachel found herself modeling a crimson pinup style string bikini with silver ties for Brittany in the dressing room (she refused to come out). Surveying herself in the mirror, she had to admit that she did look incredible in it. It did for her what the yellow one did for Brittany. Still…

"I don't know Brittany. It's awfully skimpy," she bit her lip as she took in the miles of tanned skin staring back at her from the mirror.

"It looks awesome on you though-better than I even thought it would. You have to buy it," Brittany insisted.

"Well…"

"Oh, come on Rach," Brittany wheedled her. Noting Rachel's continued hesitation, she looked for another angle. Thinking back to earlier in the shopping, she smiled broadly. "It would drive Puck nuts. He would eat his heart out. I bet he'd even walk into the nearest object the instant he saw you."

Unable to hide the tiny, yet dazzling, smile that thought elicited, Rachel met Brittany's eyes in the mirror in a moment of understanding.

Five minutes later, Rachel walked out of the store with a brand new string bikini. (She blames the purchase on Brittany blindsiding her with the kind nickname of Rach though. It had _nothing_ to do with Noah Puckerman. _Nothing._)

ooooo

"Do you want to get something to eat? We could go to the food court."

This suggestion came from Brittany an hour after they'd left what Rachel had dubbed the 'whore store,' drawing giggles from the other girl the first time she'd said it (which had been a complete accident, because Rachel never talks like that; well, not _out loud_ anyway). Rachel had expected Brittany to ditch her as soon as they bought their swimsuits, but Brittany had slipped her arm through Rachel's and dragged her into the nearest costume jewelry store. She then promptly convinced Rachel to buy a silver star toe ring (_'Gold won't go with the silver ties'_) to wear with her new bikini. They'd visited several other stores and stopped for cappuccino ('_You don't have to sing again for ages, Rach_'), so by the time Brittany suggested they stop for dinner, Rachel was on a caffeine high. This was only made stronger by the fact that she was already giggly because it turns out that Brittany? Excellent company.

"Okay. I could definitely do Asian right now," she agreed happily.

"Rachel!" Brittany sounded positively scandalized even as she fought not to laugh.

Catching on quickly, Rachel gaped at her and said, "Brittany! I didn't mean it like that! I said I could do Asian, not an Asian!"

The girls paused at the end of the corridor that led to the food court and the instant they made eye contact, burst into uncontrollable giggles. That's the state they were still in as they bought their Chinese food and took seats across from each other near the end of one of the tables.

As Rachel scooped up her chicken lo mein with her plastic fork, she noticed Brittany watching her hands oddly, eggroll paused in midair.

"What is it Brittany?" She was a little worried that Brittany was about to revert back to the Santana and Quinn lackey that she always was at school. That would be highly unfortunate too because Rachel had really been enjoying their impromptu shopping trip.

Brittany shook her head as if clearing her thoughts, dropped her eggroll on her plate, and said, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to stare; I was just looking for the scars."

"Scars?" Rachel was officially perplexed.

"Oh, well, Quinn and Santana are always talking about your manhands. I didn't want to ask you about the accident that led to your hand transplant 'cause that'd be rude. So I was trying to see the scars," she explained earnestly. "Your hands don't look like manhands though. They look girly, like mine." She held her hands out for Rachel to see. "Did you ever have a hand transplant?"

The poor girl looked so confused and Rachel didn't really want to hurt her feelings by explaining that her two best friends were actually really cruel, so she played off the question. "No, I was never in an accident, so I never had a hand transplant. That was just another rumor that someone started," she explained kindly.

"Oh." Brittany looked upset. "Rumors are so mean."

They ate in silence for approximately thirty seconds before Brittany spoke again.

"Is Rupaul even really part of your name?"

She looked so suspicious that Rachel could feel the laughter bubbling up against her will. She refused to let it out and hurt Brittany's feelings, but she was unable to keep it in. So, she snorted. Loudly.

"Classy, Berry."

Holding back a groan, Rachel turned reluctantly in her seat to find Noah striding toward her and Brittany, flanked on either side by Mike and Matt. Choosing to ignore him, Rachel sent a pleading look at Brittany that had her abandoning her seat across from Rachel and instead coming around the table and dropping into the one on her right. When the guys reached them, they took the seats across the table, Mike across from Brittany, Matt on one side of him, and Puck? He just had to sprawl out in the seat across from Rachel.

While the boys unwrapped their burgers, Brittany elbowed Rachel, gestured to Mike, and whispered, "Look, an Asian."

Rachel covered her smile and whispered back, "Yeah, but he's your Asian to do."

Both girls broke down into giggles again.

"Since when are you two friends?" Puck questioned.

He looked completely bewildered, not a smirk in sight for once. Actually, as Rachel studied all three boys' faces, they were wearing identical expressions of confusion. She could understand; it had to be surreal to find Rachel Berry giggling with a Cheerio.

"Since today," Brittany replied chirpily, stealing one of Mike's fries. "We went swimsuit shopping together."

"Really?" Puck's interest was clearly piqued. "And what did you guys get? Something almost naked?" He asked hopefully.

"I got a pretty yellow and black polka dot bikini," Brittany answered happily, "and Rachel bought…"

"A plain green one piece," Rachel cut her off smoothly. With the way Noah was currently studying her over his burger with those smoldering eyes of his, the last thing she needed was for him to find out she had actually bought a string bikini even though she said she wouldn't. He'd just pester her to wear it to their lessons, and she still wasn't sure that she wouldn't just bury the bikini in her dresser drawer when she got home tonight.

Wait a second. _Did she just think that his eyes are smoldering?_

Brittany shot her a confused look, but went with it. "Yeah, it took forever for us to find a suit that covered enough skin for her." She grinned kind of evilly, worrying Rachel. "You guys should have seen some of the bikinis she tried on. There was this one leopard print micro thong bikini; it was kind of see-through so I couldn't get her to leave the changing room. She looked hot in it though."

Rachel didn't know what Brittany was talking about. She remembered the bikini in question (how could she not? It was lime green and sheer. Not to mention she was staring at it when she reached her lowest point and nearly called Kurt.), but she certainly never tried it on. In fact it was one of the ones they had laughed over together because of the horrid color and the fact that they both agreed leopard print was only suitable for faux fur coats. _So what was Brittany doing?_

"I bet she did," Puck muttered, gazing at Rachel through hooded eyes.

_Oh! So that's what she was doing._

Rachel shot Brittany a quick glare before asking, "So, what are you guys doing here tonight? I didn't think typical adolescent males spent their free time at the mall."

Mike imitated Brittany's earlier evil grin before answering in a very casual tone, "Matt's got a thing for the piercer at that one jewelry store."

Brittany and Rachel both turned their attention to the embarrassed boy. They passed the rest of the meal asking questions about the girl and plotting ways to help Matt make a move since, according to Mike, he had never actually spoken to her. The whole time Rachel was aware of Puck's eyes on her because that itch he always caused was back.

Fifteen minutes later, around 8:30, Rachel looked around the table. Across from her, Mike and Noah were discussing some new X-Box game that was coming out later this month and next to her, Brittany was explaining to Matt precisely why everyone should eat cookies in bed. They were all so relaxed and they had actually included Rachel in their conversations. She couldn't remember the last time she'd had so much fun at a meal, even if it was just fast food, so she couldn't help the soft smile that graced her lips.

"I'll take your tray up."

Rachel refocused her gaze, which had softened as she was lost in her thoughts, on Puck standing across from her. He was holding a hand out for her plastic tray. She could see that he already had the other four balanced in one hand. Mike had been dragged into the cookie debate, which had now moved to which kind was best for eating in bed, causing her smile to widen. Puck's eyes were softer than usual as he looked down at her, his usual smirk absent. That look did funny things to her stomach.

Her soft smile still present, she handed him the tray. "Thanks."

He just nodded and headed for the nearest trash can.

"What kind of cookie do you think is best Rach?"

The sound of her new nickname caught her attention, though it surprisingly came from Mike and not Brittany.

"The obvious answer is strawberry Fig Newtons. They're soft, so less crumbs."

This answer met with cries of outrage from all corners.

"But they're not chocolate!" came from Matt.

"You can't beat an Oreo in any contest!" This was from Mike.

"There are no cartoon characters on the package!" That, of course, came from Brittany.

Rachel let out a long-suffering sigh. Clearly she was going to have to educate them on the beauty that is the strawberry newton.

"Some people like a little variety in their cookies outside of chocolate Matt. Oreos are useless unless dunking Mike, and you can't dunk Oreos in bed without making a huge mess. And, no, there aren't any cartoon characters on the packaging Brittany, but since they're strawberry, the cookies are more colorful than normal cookies, so I think that makes up for it," Rachel's cookie defense was so impassioned that she didn't even notice that Puck had returned until he let out a genuine chuckle.

"What? Do you have a problem with strawberry newtons that I have to straighten out too?" She snapped.

He held up his hands in surrender, humor shining in his eyes. "No, no. Just that only you would defend a cookie like a fuckin' defense attorney defends an accused murderer."

Her eyes flashed. "I would never defend an accused murderer unless I was absolutely certain he was innocent and to suggest anything else is highly offensive!"

They both missed the amused grins the other three exchanged or the way their heads were bouncing between the two of them as if watching a highly interesting tennis match.

"Down, killer," Puck laughed, riling Rachel up even further.

"You're just so uncouth and narcissistic and…and…" she stuttered, searching for a word terrible enough to describe him, "vile." She nodded her head, satisfied. "Yes, you're vile."

Puck merely laughed, clearly entertained by her outburst. "Babe, insults hurt a lot more when you use words normal people actually understand."

She pulled out some of her best, most atrocious adjectives and he was _laughing at her?! _She let out a strangled cry.

Mike, deciding that Rachel's face was a dangerous color of red (and a little scared of the vein throbbing in her temple), intervened before Puck could make it worse.

"Are we still going to the arcade? It doesn't close for another twenty minutes."

Matt jumped all over the distraction.

"I'm up for it. Britt, Rach, you two coming with us?"

Brittany nodded enthusiastically while Rachel, color fading from her face, beamed at Matt and responded with, "I'd be delighted to."

The five of them left the table and crossed the mall to the arcade, Rachel shooting daggers at Puck the whole way.

Entering the noisy room, which Rachel had never actually been in before, Matt and Mike immediately split off for a shooting game, and Puck got distracted by the basketball game with the cute, tiny basketballs. Brittany spotted something that made her squeal, grabbed Rachel's hand, and dragged her across the room. They came to a stop in front of dual arcade screens with matching raised platforms in front of them. The platforms had different colored arrows pointing up, down, left, and right.

"Brittany, what is this?" Rachel asked, studying the images of arrows scrolling up the screens while the words 'Insert token' flashed.

"It's Dance Dance Revolution. Stay right here and don't let anyone take our machine; I'm gonna go get tokens."

After Brittany dashed off, Rachel waited uncomfortably next to the machine. Despite the late hour on a Tuesday, the room was crowded with teenagers, clearly all celebrating the end of the school year. She even recognized several from school. She really hoped Brittany wouldn't decide she was ashamed to be seen with Rachel in public now that they were around other people Rachel recognized (and Brittany probably knew). Mike, Matt, and Noah were one thing; they were all in glee together, but others would be different. They wouldn't understand why any of the other four would be willing to be seen in public with Rachel. She may have been self-confident, but she was aware of her reputation outside of glee (and even inside of glee), so she was aware of the risk Brittany, Mike, Matt, and Noah were taking being seen with her socially without the whole of glee club present. If anyone questioned them about her presence, they couldn't even brush it off as a glee mandated activity. So, Rachel was still waiting for the moment when they would realize hanging out with her was going to ruin their reputations (Brittany especially since her two best friends positively _hated_ Rachel) and ditch her. And what more spectacular way to do just that than by having her hold a machine they had no intention of coming back to in an arcade crowded with people they know.

Just as she started to fidget nervously with the hem of her skirt, Brittany bounded back up to her with a handful of shiny gold coins. _I shouldn't have been so worried_, Rachel mused. All the same, she couldn't help the wave of relief that rushed through her.

"Here you go!" Brittany dropped one of the tokens into Rachel's hands. "The game takes one token for each of us." They each slid their token into the designated slot. "Now we pick a song."

Brittany scanned through the songs, pausing occasionally to get Rachel's opinion. They finally settled on the cover of Jennifer Lopez's 'Waiting for Tonight' since they both knew the song and it had a really good beat.

"Okay, now pick your difficulty; even though you've been in dance classes forever, you might want to start with beginner just until you get the hang of the game," she waited for Rachel to choose and then beamed when she actually took her advice despite Brittany's harder choice of light difficulty, "and now we begin. Just hit the matching arrow as it reaches the arrows at the top of the screen."

As Rachel missed the first couple of arrows, she internally acknowledged Brittany's point. The game was a little different from actual dancing as she tried to step on the arrows in time. Soon though, her natural rhythm took over and she was hitting every arrow. When the song came to an end, Brittany had beat her of course, it was inevitable given the difference in difficulty, but Rachel was ready to go again on light with Brittany this time. They picked a new song (a cover of Diana Ross's 'Ain't No Mountain High Enough'), and as they were choosing their difficulty, Puck wandered over to them.

"I've got winner." He smirked at Rachel and leaned against the deserted machine next to them to watch.

Rachel shoved the heat running down her spine aside; she had a game to win because she intended to beat Noah.

A few minutes later, she was standing victorious next to Brittany. Turning to Puck, she raised an eyebrow.

"Ready to get your butt kicked?"

He smirked as he took Brittany's place. "Are you ready to get your _ass _kicked?" He placed the emphasis on ass as if he were mocking her for not cursing.

"Wait!" Brittany called out. "I have to go get Mike and Matt. Puck's playing Dance Dance! They won't want to miss this!" She hurried off in search of the last two members of their group.

Rachel leaned over to Puck and, in a low voice, challenged, "You're so going down."

Puck quirked an eyebrow at her. "Berry, talking smack? I didn't think you had it in you."

"I have a lot in me that you don't know about," she fired back with a small smirk of her own.

Puck lowered his head until his lips were right next to her ear and whispered, "I can think of a couple of things I'd like to see in you."

Luckily, Brittany returned with the other two boys in tow and Rachel was spared having to respond, because she didn't think she even had the capability of speech at that moment. Her mouth had gone completely dry and a heat flared to life deep in her stomach from his words and the feel of his warm breath on her ear. And the kicker was, she brought it on herself with her previous comment because _holy crap? Was she just flirting with Noah? And did she actually initiate the flirtation?_ Her earlier assessment in the 'whore store' was correct. _She really needed mental help._

"You cool with this song Berry?"

Rachel turned to Puck. He appeared unaffected by their little exchange, but something heated was simmering in his eyes.

"Berry?"

"Oh!" she startled and glanced at the screen, noting he had stopped on the cover of Linkin' Park's 'Faint'. "That's fine."

He selected the song, they both chose light difficulty, and the match began. It was great. Her matches with Brittany were fun of course, but there was something about Puck that brought out her competitive streak. Plus, Mike and Matt were present for this match and they, along with Brittany, were a noisy, enthusiastic audience. When Rachel won, she couldn't help but gloat.

"I win, you lose! I win, you lose!" she chanted repeatedly, jumping up and down and pointing at him.

Brittany couldn't resist the bouncing, so she linked arms with Rachel and started jumping in time with her, also pointing at Puck, and chanting, "She wins, you lose! She wins, you lose!"

Mike, highly disappointed, cried out, "You lost to a girl! What the hell Puckerman?!" His unrestrained grin softened his words though.

Matt was just laughing. He was laughing so hard he was leaning on the machine behind him clutching a stitch in his side. _Who knew Rachel could be so much fun?_

Puck glanced at the clock on the wall and then shouted to be heard over the girls, still happily (and loudly) chanting Rachel's victory.

"This place closes in a couple of minutes! I can own you at the claw machine before then!"

Taking in those words, Rachel and Brittany stopped jumping.

Eyes narrowed, Rachel demanded, "Is that a challenge?"

"Fuck yeah, it is."

"Lead the way."

Rachel followed Noah to the claw machines, the other three behind her. She expected him to go first so she was surprised when he gestured her towards the machine.

"Women first," he announced, stepping back with the other three.

"About time you showed some manners," she muttered under her breath, stepping up to the machine full of stuffed animals.

After studying the mountain of animals in the machine to figure out which one she wanted to win, she inserted her token and maneuvered the claw to a cute white stuffed tiger. She got a hold of it, but halfway to the slot, it fell out of the claw. She hit her hand on the console in frustration.

"You're turn, I guess," she said sullenly before stepping back between Matt and Brittany while Puck took her place at the controls.

_Of course, it would only take him ten seconds to get his toy out of the machine_, she thought as he pulled the animal from the slot.

"I win, you lose," he gloated once, pushing the white tiger she'd tried to win into her hands.

"What…?" she asked, staring down at the stuffed animal, confused.

"That was the one you wanted, right?" he questioned, looking everywhere but at her.

"Well yeah, but I didn't…" she said unsurely.

"I have no use for a fucking stuffed animal," he stated gruffly, meeting her eyes briefly before looking away again.

Still clueless about what was happening, Rachel merely said "Okay" and set the tiger gently in the bag with her new swimsuits.

The atmosphere was very awkward for a couple of seconds until Matt cleared his throat and pointed out that the arcade was closing and they needed to leave. As they cut across the mall to the door they had all parked near, Brittany and Rachel fell behind the boys. Brittany linked her arm through Rachel's once more and grinned at her.

"So, he won you a tiger."

Rachel shook her head, already seeing where this was going. "No, he won himself a stuffed animal he didn't want in a bid to recapture some of his dignity."

"But he couldn't even look at you when he gave it to you. That's 'cause he liiiikes yoooou," she asserted in a sing-song voice.

"Brittany," Rachel hissed at her, terrified the boys would hear.

"I've said it before and I'll keep saying it until you catch on-he's so obvious about it Rach," Brittany maintained, certainty in her voice.

As they exited the mall they found that the sun had gone down. Rachel checked her watch. _No wonder, it's after nine! _The evening had positively flown by. _This must be what having friends is always like_. The boys had stopped by the doors to wait for the girls to catch up.

"There have been a couple of muggings in the parking lot at night lately, so I'm gonna walk Britt to her car. Matt, I'll meet you at your car," Mike announced, reaching out and taking Brittany's hand.

"'Kay then," Brittany confirmed cheerily. "Do you want to go to the movies tomorrow Rachel?"

She was quite surprised that Brittany wanted to make plans with her, but she'd had so much fun tonight that she wasn't about to say no.

"Sure, I'll call you tomorrow. Maybe it'll help you find your phone if it rings," she said, smiling brightly.

"Yeah, I'm gonna check the toaster when I get home. Oh, and the freezer; I once found my I-pod in the freezer." Brittany cocked her head to the side thoughtfully before asking, "You have my number?"

Rachel blushed. She knew that most people would be really upset with her having their numbers, so she wasn't sure how these four would respond. After all, she and Noah never even exchanged numbers when they were together briefly.

"Mr. Schuester provided them to me as glee captain in case of emergencies. I never use them though," she hastened to reassure the others. She'd hate for them to think she used their numbers to stalk them or something.

Brittany just grinned. "I would have given you my number anyway."

Mike started to pull her away. "Come on, Britt, you can talk to her when you get home as soon as you find your phone. I'll get her number from Finn for you if you call me." He turned back to Rachel. "Unless you can write it down." She shook her head; she didn't have a pen. "Alright. Rach, it was fun hanging out with you. Feel free to call me anytime."

As they walked away, Rachel could hear Mike reminding Brittany to check under her bathroom sink and behind her vanity mirror for her phone.

When they had moved out of earshot, Matt turned to Rachel.

"I'll walk you to your car. Mike's right in that you shouldn't walk by yourself at night. You're tiny and pretty so you'd be a prime target for a mugger."

Rachel blushed at the casual compliment in the sentence.

"I've got her," Puck stated sharply.

Matt appeared surprised for a moment, but he recovered quickly.

"Okay. Rach, good seeing you. Puck, Mike and I'll meet you at your house."

He walked off in the same general direction as Brittany and Mike.

Puck glanced down at Rachel. "Where's your car?"

Rachel led the way to her purple Prius, which was parked in what her Daddy always called the north forty.

"Damn it, Berry. Did you have to park in Siberia?" Puck griped.

"Yes. Statistically speaking, there is a much lower chance of sustaining damage the further away from the building you park. I am merely taking advantage of those odds," she enlightened him on what she considered very important information.

"Whatever Berry."

They came to a stop next to her driver's door. Rachel felt very weird standing there with him, almost like it was a date and she was waiting for him to kiss her. But that was just ridiculous. This certainly wasn't a date. They hadn't even arrived at the mall together, merely met up a couple of hours ago. And they'd had three other people with them. Luckily, Noah was the first to break the silence.

"So, I've arranged a pool for us to use this week."

Rachel frowned as she remembered that he was going to 'convince' a cougar to lend him one. _Better to remember who you're dealing with Rach._

"We can use it tomorrow afternoon for your first lesson if you want," he offered.

She nodded. "Outstanding. What time do you want me there and what's the address?"

"I'll just pick you up tomorrow at your house around 3. That alright?" he confirmed.

"Yeah, that sounds good to me." She paused awkwardly. "So…"

"So…" he repeated just as awkwardly. He shifted, his arm brushing against Rachel's and sending a jolt of heat through her.

"Are you going to be okay going back to your truck by yourself? I could give you a ride. I mean with the mugger and all…" she trailed off. _How was he able to steal her coherency just by his mere touch?_

He smirked (her heart sped up). "Babe, I'm a badass. I'd just like to see him try."

"Okay then."

Rachel opened her car door and slid in. After closing the door and buckling her seat belt, she started the car. As she pulled away, Noah gave her a cocky little wave to go with his smirk before jogging back to his truck.

It wasn't until a couple of hours later, after she'd gotten into her pajamas and talked to Brittany on the phone (found in the silverware drawer) for half an hour, that she remembered that Noah had a seven year old sister.

"So what are you doing with me?" she asked the stuffed white tiger sitting proudly on her nightstand.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot. I also don't own Sex and the City 2, Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, or Jaws. Nor do I own 'Taking Chances', 'One of the Boys', or 'Monsters'.

A/N: I'd like to thank everyone who's reading and enjoying this story. I'd also like to once again thank all of my reviewers for their kind words. I'm just so completely overwhelmed by the response this story has received (over 1800 hits, 19 favorites, and 38 (!!) reviews). Thanks so much guys! Now, onto the story note. So, this chapter took a sharp left turn at the end. Due to that, I had to split the day into two chapters. I initially intended all of Wednesday to be covered in this chapter, but instead I had to split it up because the boys, Britt, and Rachel tend to take on a life of their own once put together as they proved last chapter. As it is, this chapter stands at about 3900 words, and by the time I added in the rest of Wednesday, the chapter would have been well over 7000 words. Plus I just couldn't resist this stopping point or the way it means I can start the next chapter. Also, I got the movie choices from the currently scheduled May 28th releases. Sorry for the super long A/N. As always, read and review. Thanks!

Rachel was highly frustrated. Wednesday morning she woke up when her alarm went off at seven. Since it was officially summer, in school if not in calendar, she could now allow herself to sleep in that extra hour every morning. The first thing she saw upon waking was the stuffed tiger on her nightstand. It instantly brought a smile to her face. Last night had been wonderful. It felt like she had friends. Remembering her plans to go to the movies later with Brittany, she wondered if maybe she really did have at least one new friend.

Memories of the previous night also stirred some very confusing feelings, especially when she thought about Noah, bringing her to her highly frustrated state. What was going on with him? Brittany clearly believed he liked her, but Rachel wasn't so sure about that. Sure, he had said some very sexual things to her last night (her face was still red from some of them), but wasn't that just Puck being, well, Puck? He made dirty comments to all the girls. She was pretty sure she'd even seen him hitting on the 55 year-old lunch lady last week. Still, he did give her the tiger she'd failed to win when he could have just rubbed it in her face and taken the stuffed animal home to his sister. And the way he'd looked at her in the food court before she'd been drawn into the great cookie debate was perhaps the tenderest expression she'd ever seen on his face. Between that and the tiger, she could almost believe that he truly liked her, maybe even saw her as more than just a sexual conquest. But there was still the fact that he had 'convinced' a cougar to lend him her pool for her swimming lessons. Rachel may have only barely lost her virginity (_literally two seconds of sex!_), but she wasn't completely naive. Everyone knew about Puck's cougars, so she knew there were sexual favors involved in getting the pool. It was enough to turn her stomach, and she really didn't want to think about why she had _that_ reaction to the thought. But he was actually kind of sweet last night and...

Letting out a strangled cry, she threw back her covers and got out of bed. _This was getting her nowhere!_

One hour later she climbed off her elliptical feeling much better about everything. Exercise always cleared her mind. Logically she knew it was the release of endorphins, but like in singing, the logic wasn't important. The feeling was.

After her customary post workout shower, she stood wrapped in a fluffy yellow towel in front of her closet trying to decide what to wear. She was proud of herself. She hadn't thought about Noah since she began exercising (if he popped into herhead once or twice in the shower, she'd _never_ admit it), and she wouldn't have to think about him again until he stopped by to pick her up at three and _damn it! She was thinking about him again!_ Just as she was beginning to despair that he had somehow hijacked her brain (because really that was the _only_ logical explanation for why she couldn't get him out of her head), the chorus of 'Taking Chances' rang out. Abandoning her closet, since she was making zero progress on picking an outfit, she crossed to her nightstand and checked her caller ID. It was Brittany.

"Hello!" she answered the phone cheerily.

"Rachel? Is that you?" came the uncertain voice on the other end of the line.

Rachel snickered. That was Brittany's greeting last night too.

"Yeah, it's me Britt."

"Great!" Brittany's voice perked up. "Are you still coming to the movies tonight?"

Rachel felt a pulse of self-doubt. Was that Brittany's subtle way of hinting that she didn't want her to come anymore? Before she could ruin things and say no in self-defense, she asked herself one question. _Since when has Brittany ever been subtle?_ The answer: _Never._ At least not that she'd seen (last night's baiting Puck at dinner definitely wasn't subtle).

"I planned on it. Why? Has something come up?" She decided to tiptoe around her insecurities.

"Kind of," Brittany hesitated.

_Well, it's not like we were really friends, right? One fun night out doesn't automatically make you friends._

"So what do you think?" Brittany's voice came over the line.

Rachel blushed when she realized Brittany wanted her opinion on something and she hadn't heard a word she'd said.

"Sorry, Britt. I was distracted," Rachel apologized, her embarrassment clear to Brittany even though they couldn't see each other.

"Well, stop thinking about Puck..."

"Believe me, I'm trying to," Rachel muttered under her breath.

"...and listen...wait, what?" Brittany cut herself off as Rachel's words sank in.

"Nothing."

"You're thinking about Puck?"

Rachel was silent. She didn't want to lie to her new friend.

"You're thinking about Puck!" Brittany shouted excitedly, causing Rachel to hold her phone away from her ear. She could practically see Brittany jumping up and down. "I knew it, I knew it! You two are so going to date!"

After all the random shrieking on the other end stopped, Rachel put her phone back to her ear. If she wanted to avoid the third degree, she needed to divert Brittany's attention.

"So, what was the change of plans for the movies tonight, Britt?" she asked, fingers crossed that Brittany would take the bait.

"Oh! Mike and Matt want to come too. I know it was supposed to be just us, and with the guys coming we can't see Sex and the City 2 like we planned (_their local theater never checked ID_), but it should still be fun. So what do you think?" she finished all in one breath.

_Thank Moses you're easily distracted_ is what Rachel thought, but what she said was, "I'd be thrilled for them to come with us."

"Yay!" Rachel heard Brittany clap her hands. _How did she do that without dropping her phone?_ "I have to go so I can tell them. They want to see Prince of Persia. Is that okay?"

"It sounds fine Brittany," Rachel replied honestly. "When should I meet you guys at the theater?"

"Mike said if we went to the 7:00 showing we could grab something to eat after. Do you want to?"

"Yes. I'll meet you at the theater a little before seven."

"Okay. Bye Rach!" Brittany chirped sunnily.

"Bye Britt."

"Have fun thinking about Puck!" Brittany said, giggling.

By the time Rachel had registered those parting words, Brittany had already hung up.

ooooo

By 11:00, Rachel had experienced a rather productive morning. She had finally settled on an outfit (black yoga pants and sky blue tank top), eaten breakfast (protein shake and strawberry cereal bar-_yes, she had a love for all things strawberry, not just Fig Newtons_), and recorded a new MySpace video ('One of the Boys' by Katy Perry-_what? It seemed appropriate after last night's outing with Brittany and the guys_). She had received a voicemail from Mr. Schuester stating that they were all going to stick together at the park in order to ensure interaction. She was happy about that because it meant that at least he had followed through on one thing from the previous day's discussion. That small success energized her, so she had organized her clothing by color in both her closet and her dresser drawers. Her DVDs were all alphabetized by lead actor and her books by author. Okay, so maybe the DVDs were going overboard but when she was busy she didn't think. Especially not about sexy badasses with mesmerizing hazel eyes and the morals of a manwhore (okay, so _maybe_ hiding the tiger under her pillow where she couldn't see it helped too). She was just considering attacking her fathers' closet while they were at work when the doorbell rang. Frowning in confusion, because it was too early for Noah and she was meeting Britt and the boys later tonight, she left her fathers' bedroom, skipped down the stairs (she was in a _really_ good mood for some reason), and flung open the door (so she probably should have checked who it was first, but whatever).

"I've come to inspect your swimsuit selection."

_Yeah, definitely should've checked who was on the other side of the door before I answered it_, Rachel thought as she took in the sight of Kurt standing on her front porch, impeccably dressed as always.

"I'm sorry?" She was so surprised by his presence she'd completely missed what he'd said.

He gave an annoyed huff. "I was elected by the rest of the glee club to ensure that you're unique," he paused, mouth twisting in distaste, "style doesn't extend to your swimwear and cause the rest of us extreme embarrassment on Saturday since Mr. Schue insists we be seen with you."

Kurt pushed his way past Rachel into the house. "Please follow me to your cotton candy room so we can get this over with." Ignoring Rachel's stammered "But..." Kurt climbed the stairs to the second floor.

Once Rachel finally recovered from her shock (she was pretty sure she'd just been insulted not just by Kurt but by the entire glee club), she followed Kurt up to her room to find him already combing through one of her newly organized dresser drawers.

"I just reorganized that!" she exclaimed, outraged.

Kurt looked up. "Really? I couldn't tell," he replied dryly.

Rachel crossed the room and slammed her underwear drawer shut before placing herself between Kurt and her dresser. She couldn't believe his nerve. This was definitely an invasion of privacy!

"I bought a brand new suit yesterday. I do not need your help," she stated through gritted teeth.

"Oh, sweetheart," Kurt said, a pitying expression on his face, "if you chose it, I'm sure you do need my help. I can't imagine the atrociousness of a toddler/grandma swimsuit."

Okay, so Rachel disliked when he called her sweetheart (_that's supposed by a term of endearment, not an insult sugar-coating_), but she really _hated_ it when he looked at her like he felt sorry for her. She didn't understand why she wasn't allowed to just be herself. Kurt never harassed anyone else about their wardrobes, not Tina with her Goth or the guys with their ripped jeans, just her. And wasn't it more important for her to be true to her personal style, no matter what others thought? Still, she knew how he worked. It'd be easier to just humor him and ignore his comments and hopefully he'd leave soon. But she had to give resistance one last try.

"I had help shopping for it," she declared, praying he would accept that and leave her alone.

"You clearly inherited your taste from your fathers, so their help doesn't count. Now show me the suit already," the elegant boy demanded, tapping a foot impatiently and holding out a manicured hand.

Ignoring the shot of pain that it didn't even occur to him she might have a friend who helped, Rachel considered telling him Brittany had assisted her because she was sure he would approve of the Cheerio's fashion sense (and she was fairly certain Britt hadn't helped set him on her). However, she didn't think he'd believe her. After all, Mike, Matt, and Noah had a hard enough time believing it at first and they saw the two girls together with their own eyes. Plus, a tiny part of her still wasn't sure if Brittany would want Kurt knowing about their friendship, especially since Kurt knowing meant all of glee would know too. So instead she turned around, pulled open her dresser drawer, and removed the green one piece she'd bought (she still wasn't sure about the bikini). When she turned back around to face Kurt, he snatched it out of her hand. After he inspected it from all angles, he announced his verdict.

"Well the high neck would normally detract from the suit, but given your figure," he sneered pointedly at her breasts, "perhaps it's best. The fact that it's backless is an advantage as is the high cut on the legs. However, this color..." he wrinkled his nose in distaste, "you'll look like a stalk of asparagus. Overall, it's not as horrible as I expected. You shouldn't be an embarrassment to the group, only to yourself in this color," he declared pompously before handing the suit back to Rachel.

Face red with mortification, Rachel spun back around and stuffed the suit back into her drawer with a shaky hand. She couldn't even comprehend the number of insults he had just thrown at her without a second's hesitation. She really just wanted him to leave now, but ever the consummate hostess, she had to ask.

"Do you need anything else?"

Kurt sniffed. "Only to go shopping and assure myself that my superb style remains intact. I can actually feel my good taste evaporating the longer I remain in this horrid room, so I'll take my leave now."

With that, Kurt spun on one highly polished heel and strode out of her bedroom door. Rachel leaned against her dresser, controlling her breathing and trying to stop her body from shaking. He was jealous of her talent and that's why he was always so vicious to her. It was pettiness, nothing more. She heard the front door slam as he exited the house. Rachel crossed the room, sunk down on her bed, pulled the tiger from under her pillow, and cradled it to her chest. _She would not cry, she would not cry_.

Turns out? Just because you say you won't cry, it doesn't mean you won't.

ooooo

After allowing herself precisely thirty minutes to cry and wallow in her self-pity, Rachel stuffed her tiger back under her pillow and got up. She grabbed a quick lunch of leftover chicken and posted a second MySpace video ('Monsters' by the Hurricane Bells). She even rearranged her fathers' closet by color just as she'd done hers (after reorganizing her underwear drawer), but she wasn't able to regain her prior good mood. Kurt had destroyed it as thoroughly as he had destroyed her dresser drawer. At a quarter to three she changed into her one piece before slipping her yoga pants and tank top back over the top of it (no way was she wearing that bikini-apparently she didn't have the top to fill it). She smoothed on sunscreen (a sunburn was no one's friend), grabbed her teal flip-flops, and headed downstairs to get a bottle of water from the fridge to take with her.

When 3:10 came and went and Puck still hadn't arrived, Rachel began to wonder if he'd stood her up. She thought about calling him, but she had promised just last night that the numbers Mr. Schuester gave her were for emergency use only. While learning to swim before Saturday was an emergency to her, she somehow didn't think he'd feel the same. Just as she was running through plans to teach herself, a horn honked outside.

Rolling her eyes, because it would be just like Puck to expect her to come running just because he honked, Rachel got up from the couch and grabbed her purse and keys. After making sure the front door was locked, she cut across the lawn to the street and, with some effort, hopped up into the passenger side of his truck.

"You gonna make it there midget?" Puck asked, watching her struggles in amusement.

Finally succeeding and pulling the door shut, Rachel clicked her seat belt.

"Obviously," she replied primly, folding her hands in her lap.

Puck chuckled at her attitude as he pulled away from the curb.

The drive across town was silent except for the radio. She had expected his taste in music to be awful, so she was pleasantly surprised to find out that his radio was set to the same indie rock station she usually listened to. She chose to focus on the music because being enclosed in Noah's truck with him only reminded her of how very confused she was. They weren't even touching, but she was incredibly aware of his every move and electricity skittered up and down her skin at his nearness. At this rate, she was quite sure she was either going to jump him before they reached their destination or lash out at him to keep exactly that from happening. When he brushed against her adjusting the air conditioning, she began to wonder if she should think of the mailman. That trick usually seemed to work for Finn, and while her situation wasn't exactly the same thing since she was a girl, surely it couldn't hurt to try. It might keep her from doing something stupid. Unfortunately, she didn't know what thinking of the mailman really entailed, so she wound up picturing Noah in a mailman uniform. It had the desired effect because turns out? He really doesn't rock the mailman look. She started snickering at the mental picture as she stared out the window.

"What's up with you Berry?" Puck asked curiously, glancing over at her.

She turned away from the scenery to look at him. "What do you mean?"

"When I picked you up you looked like someone had kicked your puppy, but now you're laughing? What's up with the fuckin' mood swings?" He refocused on the road.

She shook her head. "It's nothing, just nervous about my lesson, I guess."

The look he gave her said he didn't believe her, but he let the subject drop.

Ten minutes later they pulled up to a farmhouse a couple of miles out of town. Once Puck brought the truck to a stop, they both jumped down from their respective sides (the trip down was much easier than the trip up for Rachel). She followed Puck across the yard and around the house, where an above ground pool sat, surrounded by a beautiful redwood deck. After they climbed onto the deck, Rachel gazed down into the clear blue water. A thought struck her.

"I forgot to bring a towel! Maybe we should try again tomorrow; I don't want to ruin your upholstery by soaking it," she explained, slowly backing away from the water's edge.

"Don't worry about that. I always keep a couple of towels in the truck for work. We can dry off later," he reassured her.

"Okay, umm...." she searched frantically for something else. "I don't want to use your work towels in case you need them later for...you know...work." She continued her journey away from the water. "We can make another attempt tomorrow."

She got as far as the stairs before his hand landed on her upper arm. Just like in the school parking lot the day before, the sudden heat the contact generated shocked her to a standstill even in her panic.

"Berry," he said in a soft voice.

She stood stone still, willing him to just let her go back to the truck.

"Berry," he tried again. When she still didn't so much as flinch, worry flashed across his face. "Rachel?"

That burst through her terror. He never called her by her first name. She turned her large brown eyes up to his; she was surprised at the concern she saw there.

Seeing that he had her attention, Puck asked two questions she really didn't want to answer. "This isn't just about a lack of time for swim lessons when you were a child, is it? You're actually scared of the water, aren't you?"

Blinking back tears of shame, Rachel buried her face in her hands (_never let them see you cry-_she was already breaking her 'never let them see your fear' rule), and nodded.

"You need to talk to me here Rachel. I can't help if I don't fuckin' understand," Puck insisted.

Surprisingly, it was the profanity that calmed her down so that she could tell her story. It was just so very Noah and that was as comforting as it was annoying because it was comforting.

Taking a seat on one of the white lounge chairs, she explained why she couldn't swim. Puck sat down in the chair next to hers and listened intently.

"When I was five, my dads watched Jaws. I was supposed to be in bed, but I'd had a nightmare so I went downstairs to get Daddy since he always comforted me when I had bad dreams. I arrived in the room just as the shark was attacking someone and the water turned red," she shuddered at the memory. "I started screaming and Dad scooped me up and rushed me out of the room, but the damage was already done. It took them two days to convince me that a shark wasn't going to attack me in the shower, and two years before I started taking baths again. I've been able to go into pools since I was thirteen, and though I'm always a little nervous at first, I do fine once I'm actually in the water, but I will definitely never go into the ocean. I've never told Dad and Daddy that I'm still a little scared of the water because they'd probably make me go to a psychiatrist. While psychiatrists are certainly useful for people with severe psychological issues, I don't believe I would be well served by one since my fear is so minor."

She searched his face for any signs of mockery. She was only slightly stunned when she didn't see any, so she continued.

"Don't think I'm dense or something. Logically I know that there aren't any sharks in the pool, but that doesn't seem to matter at first. I need to face my fear of actually getting into the pool, and I think learning how to swim will accomplish that," she finished her story confidently, all traces of her tears gone.

"Then that's what we're gonna do," Puck decided, standing up and moving in front of her. "By the time I'm done with you, you'll swim like a fuckin' mermaid."

He held out his hand to Rachel, and she knew he was offering her a choice. Either she chickened out and went home, or she put her trust in the boy in front of her, conquered her fear, and learned to swim.

Of course, she took his hand.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot. I also don't own Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, The Sorcerer's Apprentice or Wendy's.  
A/N: I continue to be amazed by everyone's support. Thank you to all of my reviewers! I'd love to reply to each of you individually, but then I wouldn't get any writing done (and I have a feeling no one'd like that). Just know that your encouragement means so very much to me. And, if you're reading but not reviewing, thanks for taking the time to read. I hope you're enjoying the story! Again, the movies come from the current 2010 release schedule. They are set for release a month and a half apart and share the same two production companies, so I though it would be realistic that one would be a preview on the other.

Rachel was furious. She wasn't Schuester-had-another-stupid-idea annoyed; she wasn't Puck-laughing-at-her-insults mad; she wasn't Kurt-searching-through-her-underwear-drawer-uninvited outraged. No, she was furious.

Scratch that, she was livid. She was get-a-shovel-and-bury-Noah-Puckerman's-body-in-the-woods livid.

She shouldn't have taken his hand.

If she hadn't, she wouldn't be soaking wet right now. If she hadn't, she'd still be on the nice, dry deck in her nice, dry clothing instead of spitting out chlorinated water while weighed down by her waterlogged garments. Because Noah Puckerman? _Yanked her into the water the instant she took his hand! _

She had immediately surfaced and struggled to stay above water while still making her way to the edge. The pool was five feet deep, and since she stood at a mere 5' 1", she couldn't just stand and continue to breathe the way Puck no doubt could. If she weren't so worried about drowning, she'd see if her slight psychic powers extended to setting others on fire. However she was too focused on not drowning to worry about anything else (anyway, she suspected they didn't or Kurt would be a pile of ash by now). And the water was _cold_!

Just when she was afraid she couldn't keep fighting to stay above the surface any longer, two warm hands reached out and, nearly pulling her arms from their sockets, dragged her from the water. While she stood shivering from the aftershocks of the icy water in the breeze, those same hands rubbed up and down her arms vigorously, warming her back up before wrapping around her and holding her against an equally warm (and amazingly hard) chest. When that simple body heat changed into an electric heat, the thought that Noah had his arms around her cut through her cold-induced shock. And then the rage returned.

"What the hell were you thinking?!" She pulled out of his arms and smacked him in the chest. "I could have drowned!" _whack_ "I knew I shouldn't have accepted your offer!" _whack_ "I'll never, _ever _trust you again!"

"Whoa, killer, calm down!" Puck shouted, chuckling.

His laughter just made it worse.

"Take me home," she demanded stonily.

Calming down, Puck frowned. "Listen, Berry..."

"Take me home _now_," she hissed angrily at him.

He held up his hands in the universal sign of surrender. "Just give me a couple of minutes to explain and then, if you still don't want my help, I promise I'll take you home."

Crossing her arms over her chest, she stared coldly up at him, silently giving him permission to clarify.

Wasting no time, he said, "I just wanted to get you past your fear of getting in the water. Now that you know what it feels like to get thrown in off guard, it should be easier for you to get in on your own since you'll be in control. And, Berry, I know it's all about keeping control for you. And I _never_ would have let you drown," he stated earnestly before ruining it by adding, "I don't want your ass haunting me for all eternity."

Though she continued to glare at him, internally she was considering his argument. It actually did make a lot of sense. She had to admit the thought of getting into the pool no longer terrified her since she knew it'd be under her own steam from now on. Plus, she knew him well enough (and it alarmed her to even think this) to know that he would just toss her in the pool should she hesitate to enter it in the future. Okay, so he probably took the best approach for her personality (and _that _thought-that her knew her that well-alarmed her even more), but no way was she going to tell him that.

"This was my only set of dry clothing," she grumbled at him, gesturing down her body.

She shifted uncomfortably as his eyes scanned down the clothing clinging to her every curve and then back up. When his eyes reached hers again, the disturbing heat running through her was reflected back at her. _Maybe drawing his attention to her body wasn't her smartest idea_.

"I guess you'll just have to ride home in your swimsuit," he suggested, raising an eyebrow at her. Then he smirked, "So, does this mean I'm forgiven?"

"Fine, whatever, but if you ever do that again..." She let the threat hang.

"Yeah, yeah. Your midget ass will somehow magically kick my badass. I assume you're wearing a suit under there Berry?" he guessed. She nodded. "Well, what are you waiting for? Get out of your clothes so we can get started."

Ignoring the way his voice deepened slightly with that particular order, Rachel moved to the nearest lounge chair. As she reached for the hem of her tank top, she remembered something important.

Looking over at Puck, she told him, "I need to be home by six."

Pulling his cell phone from the pocket of his trunks, he checked the time. "It's only 3:47." He dropped the phone on the other chair. "Why? Got a hot date?" He smirked and wiggled his eyebrows in a positively ridiculous manner before pulling his shirt off.

Quickly averting her eyes from the very nice, very muscular chest he had just revealed, Rachel lifted the hem of her shirt. "Brittany asked me to go to the movies, remember? Matt and Mike are coming too."

Struggling with her wet tank, Rachel missed the irritation on his face. He muttered something under his breath that sounded suspiciously like 'of course they are,' but she must have misheard him. Finally getting her top off, she continued, "Yeah, the guys wanted to see Prince of Persia so we're going to the 7:00 showing tonight. That's why I need to be home by six; I'll need time to wash the chlorine out of my hair."

Rachel was aware that she was babbling as she pulled her soggy yoga pants off, but she felt distinctly uneasy. She was essentially getting undressed in front of Noah, who was standing there shirtless and apparently completely at ease. Sure she had her swimsuit on underneath, but that didn't make her comfortable with the situation. Plus, she was trying really hard not to stare. Because his chest? Magnificent. And his abs? Even better. Not to mention those lovely, lovely arms of his. And the very intriguing nipple ring that she _totally did not want to touch_.

"Sure, right. Home by six. I've got it Berry."

He sounded unhappy, but she couldn't for the life of her figure out why.

"Into the pool," he commanded abruptly.

Slipping out of her flip-flops (which had miraculously stayed on during her earlier sojourn in the pool), she stuck her foot in the water to help acclimate her to the icy temperature. She heard Puck snort an instant before he jumped into the pool (not hard enough to hurt himself, but enough to make a bit of a splash).

"How can you just jump in like that?" she asked in disbelief. "It's so cold!"

"Sometimes cold is a very good thing," he stated cryptically, studying her. She frowned. _What was that supposed to mean?_ "Lookin' hot by the way Berry." _Oh_.

"You don't think I look like asparagus?" she blurted out. The instant the words were out of her mouth she really wanted to take them back.

"Asparagus?" He was clearly confused. "Fuck no. No vegetable has tits like those," he winked at her. "C'mon Berry. If you're not in the pool in thirty seconds, I'm fucking pulling you in."

Hiding her smile (_he didn't think her breasts were too small!_), she let out an annoyed huff but slid into the water nonetheless. She kept a hold of the side as he came toward her. The water came up to his neck. Once he reached her, he explained the day's lesson.

"Today I'm just gonna teach you how to tread water so you can stay afloat while I teach you to swim. If fact, at the water park, treading water is probably about all you'll need to know since you should be able to touch bottom in the pools under the slides. You'll need to know how to swim for the wave pool though, even if you get an inner tube, since the waves can easily knock you off one of those," he took a breath before continuing. "You were actually treading water earlier, just a really rough, panicked form of it. So, let's try it."

She just stared at him. _Where were the instructions in all that?_

"If you're gonna learn this, you need to let go of the edge."

She shook her head, "I'm sorry, but when did you instruct me on how to tread water exactly?"

She saw the annoyance on his face, but he clearly tamped it down, because instead of yelling at her, he merely explained how to move her arms horizontally under the water and kick her legs. She let go of the side and tried. She did well for a few seconds, but then her head dipped under the water and she began to panic so she grabbed the edge of the pool again. Choking on the chlorinated liquid, she glared at Puck as if it were his fault she'd gotten scared. Of course, the fact that he was laughing at her again didn't help.

"That was good," he stated between snickers. "Try it again, but maybe keep your mouth shut this time."

Ignoring the feeling that he was entirely too happy saying that, Rachel took a deep breath and let go of the side again. She did much better and when she went under this time, her mouth was closed so she didn't swallow any water. She merely continued to work her arms and legs to get herself back above the water before grabbing the side.

Puck grinned at her (a genuine one amazingly, not a smirk) and instructed her to try it again. They kept on this way for quite awhile until she stopped panicking when she went under. She had just grabbed the side without going under even once when he announced that it was time to move to the center of the pool. She clung tighter to the side.

"No, I'm happy here, thanks."

He just shook his head at her. "It's too easy to grab the side here if you get uncomfortable. You need to try it further into the water since that's how the water park will be. A slide isn't going to drop you next to the edge. You'll have to move from the deeper water to the shallows. Since you can't swim yet, I'll pull you out."

He reached for her and she pulled farther away. She was now pressed tightly to the wall of the pool. He laughed at her. Rachel knew she probably looked ridiculous, but she couldn't help it.

"I don't want to drown," she whimpered pathetically, trying to get him to take pity on her.

"You aren't going to drown. I won't let you," he reaffirmed his earlier promise. "Now stop being a pussy Berry."

He grabbed her arm (_and shouldn't the cold water minimize his effect on her?_) and pulled but he couldn't move her because of her death grip on the poolside. Instead of getting angry, he simply chuckled again, moved closer, and reached across her to pry her hand off the edge. It wasn't exactly difficult because her grip had gone slack the instant he was pressed up against her side. Suddenly, the water felt entirely too warm. That feeling didn't lessen as he towed her out to the center of the pool. He kept a tight hold of her as she got her bearings and when she was ready, he let her go.

She did well; being in the center of the pool wasn't really all that different from being at the edge. In fact, she did so well that he started to teach her how to doggy paddle so that she could get herself around the pool. And true to his word, he didn't let her drown. Anytime she started to panic ( which happened more frequently at first since the edge wasn't there for her to cling to), he was right there anchoring her and keeping her above water. And every time he touched her another shock ran to the pit of her stomach. By the time he left her at the farthest edge of the pool and climbed onto the deck, instructing her to doggy paddle to him as the final part of the day's lesson, she was a bundle of sensitized nerves. She was highly relieved that their lesson was over because if he touched her one more time, she was afraid she'd lose her tightly held control. She had excellent discipline, but after so many hours in close contact with nothing more than his trunks and her suit separating them, she was at the end of her rope.

Taking a deep breath, she leaned forward, cupped her hands, and mimicked digging like he'd taught her as she kicked her legs to propel herself to the deck. When she reached the edge, he reached down and pulled her out and away from the water. She was thrilled. She'd made it all the way across the pool without going under or freaking out once.

"You did it," Puck said proudly.

"I did! And I'm not even scared anymore. This is so exciting!" In a fit of happiness, she leaped up and threw her arms around his neck.

He went instantly still before wrapping his arms around her waist and hauling her tightly against him. She pulled her head back to meet his eyes. They looked so very green from this close. And the intensity smoldering in them was enough to knock the breath out of her. He was so close, _so very close_. She could move her head two inches and taste him (she was sure she'd never seen a more appealing pair of lips). They looked so soft and the bottom one was so full; she felt a strange urge to bite it. From the way his eyes were flickering between her eyes and mouth, she thought maybe he felt the same. She'd kissed him before, months ago, but she just knew this time would be more intense. Because she wouldn't be thinking of Finn and he probably wouldn't be thinking of Quinn.

Oh. Right. Quinn. And Santana. And the cougars. One of whom lent him this pool with some 'convincing'.

Those thoughts were like ice water in her veins. They cut right through her desire fogged mind. As she shoved back from him, hard, she was glad he'd had the foresight to pull her away from the water's edge.

"So," she started in a hoarse voice. She cleared her throat as she picked up his phone and checked the time. "We should get going. It's nearly six already."

She handed his phone to him (he looked as unsettled as she felt), gathered up her clothing, and slid her feet into her flip-flops. She was halfway across the yard before she heard him following her.

After silently drying off and scrambling up into his truck with some difficulty, she buckled her seat belt and faced out the window. The easy atmosphere of the lesson had disappeared. Rachel knew it was her fault; he had to know she had nearly kissed him back there. She refused to feel bad about restraining herself though. Whatever everyone else thought, she deserved better than to be just another notch on Noah Puckerman's bedpost. _She did_. Except for the radio, the ride home was completely quiet, both teens lost in their own thoughts.

ooooo

At ten 'til seven Rachel parked her Prius in a parallel (less chance of damage) spot near the movie theater. She was feeling pretty proud of herself. Noah had dropped her off shortly after six and she'd managed to grab a quick shower, get dressed, dry and curl her hair, put on her makeup and still make it to the movies early. Granted, her shower basically just consisted of washing the chemicals out of her hair and she barely wore any makeup, but it still counted. And she looked good, if she did say so herself. Wanting to make her new friends proud, she'd dressed carefully. She chose her nicest black, red, and white plaid pleated skirt and a cute fitted white shirt with cap sleeves and black lace at the neckline. In celebration of summer, she ditched the knee socks and Mary Janes and opted for a pair of strappy black backless sandals with wedge heels. Her blow dryer had left her chestnut hair shiny and the waves were very flattering on her. Her makeup was very understated, just a single coat of brown mascara that brought out her eyes and a little shimmery pink gloss. So, yeah, as she approached the theater she felt very confident. In fact, she felt like a completely different girl from the one she'd been when Kurt had left her house earlier. _And it had nothing do with how Noah was looking at her during their almost-kiss. Nothing._

She was relieved to find Brittany, Mike, and Matt waiting outside the ticket booth for her. It wasn't because she'd thought they'd ditch her. She'd moved beyond that fear when she hung up with Brittany that morning; she just thought waiting for them by herself would be uncomfortable.

"Oh my gosh!" Brittany called out as Rachel approached. "Rach, you look gorgeous!"

Rachel blushed as she reached them and Brittany pulled her into a hug.

"And Puck's not even coming tonight," she whispered into Rachel's ear with a giggle, causing the blush to deepen.

She pulled away from Brittany and faced the boys. "Hi guys."

Mike grinned and said, "God Rach. I swear if I didn't have Britt..." He let out a grunt as a beaming Brittany elbowed him in the stomach.

"You do look really good," Matt added sincerely.

"Thanks, you guys," she smiled at her three new friends. _Because the guys had to be her friends, right? They wouldn't compliment her if they weren't, would they?_ Well, whatever they were, it was much more comfortable to her than whatever Puck was.

"Well, come on," Brittany broke in. "Stop drooling over her so we can get our tickets."

The guys stepped to the front of the line while Brittany fell in next to Rachel behind them. Linking their arms together, Brittany asked, "So how'd your day go? Did you get Mr. Schuester's message? I don't understand why he had to call us. I thought we all already knew that we were going to hang out together at the water park on Saturday. Do you think he's going senile already?"

Rachel laughed at the barrage of questions; she couldn't help it.

"I think he was worried that everyone would go off with their friends and he wanted to keep the whole club together."

"Oh. I didn't even think of that. If we had split up, you could have come with me, Quinn, and San. Then you could have explained to them about how you don't have manhands," she offered earnestly.

Rachel was touched. That certainly answered the question of whether Brittany was okay with everyone knowing they were friends.

She didn't get a chance to say anything though because Brittany cocked her head to the side and exclaimed, "Hey! You never told me whether Rupaul is really a part of your name! I always thought it was maybe your middle name. Is it?" She turned her head to Rachel expectantly.

"No, it's not. My full name is Rachel Barbra Berry. I don't know where Rupaul came from," she informed Brittany. She actually did of course, but she didn't want to break her rule about not coming between Brittany and the other two Cheerios, even if Britt was too good for them.

"Good. Rupaul's an ugly name, not like Rachel. Barbra's pretty too," the blonde nodded her head surely, high ponytail bobbing. "So, what did you do today? I went swimming with my older sister Tiffany."

"Not much. I mostly hung around the house and reorganized."

Brittany wrinkled her nose. "That doesn't sound like any fun at all. It's summer; you should be having lots of fun."

Rachel smiled at her. "I will. It's only the first day of summer. Plenty of time left to have fun."

Brittany grinned. "Good! And if you don't have fun on your own, then I can always make you!"

They shared a giggle (because she totally would and they both knew it) as the guys finished buying their tickets and left the line. When Brittany dropped her arm and joined Mike, Rachel stepped up to buy her ticket to the movie.

"What are you doing, Rach?" Mike questioned. "Matt already got your ticket for you."

Rachel looked over at the other three to see that Matt was in fact holding up two tickets. Blushing, she left the line and followed them through the door to the theater.

When Matt handed her a ticket, Rachel thanked him.

"You really didn't have to buy my ticket for me, though. I brought money; I could pay you back."

She'd hate to think he felt obligated to pay for her; after all this wasn't even a date. And even if it were, she was a modern woman perfectly capable of paying her own way.

"It's okay Rach; I wanted to," Matt reassured her, a shy expression on his face.

She smiled sweetly back at him. "Well, thank you. It was really chivalrous of you."

"Hey guys."

At the sound of that voice, Rachel's spine stiffened. Surely he didn't...She turned to the concession counter, and sure enough...there he was striding toward their group, his eyes narrowed at Matt.

"Noah?"

Reaching the four, Puck smirked at Rachel before casually throwing an arm around her shoulders.

"You said the 7:00 Prince of Persia, right Berry?"

Too stunned to even remove his arm, she tilted her head back to look up at him.

"Well, yeah, but I don't remember inviti..."

He cut her off. "Awesome. I've been wanting to see this movie. I've heard the fight scenes are fuckin' badass," he addressed the others.

Rachel chanced a look at Brittany and found her beaming ecstatically back at her. Yep, just what she was afraid of. She was so not looking forward to the next time Britt got her alone. That look meant she had about 200 questions to ask and she would never again listen to a single one of Rachel's denials that anything was going on between her and Puck.

"Britt, Rach, why don't the two of you go grab seats for the five of us?" Mike requested, easily accepting Puck crashing their outing. "We'll grab the popcorn and drinks."

Rachel happily shrugged off Noah's arm to do just that.

"What do you want, Rach?" Matt called to her back. "I'll get your snacks for you."

She spun around to answer him when Puck blocked her response.

"I've got it," he interjected, glaring at Matt again. "Strawberry soda and popcorn, right Berry?"

Noah's behavior was highly confusing. He seemed mad at Matt for some reason; _maybe they were fighting_? She had to admit she was surprised he knew her favorite soda.

"Yeah, let me give you money," she opened her purse up to dig out some cash.

"Nah, Berry. It's covered," he said.

"Okay then." She closed her purse. "Thank you."

He smirked. "Whatever. You gonna go save us seats or what?"

"Yeah, right," she agreed awkwardly.

She started toward the room their movie was playing in. She had only just gotten around the corner when Brittany grabbed her wrist and asked very excitedly, "So, when did you talk to Puck today?"

Rachel really didn't want to have this conversation right now, so she chose to use her earlier 'distract Brittany' tactic.

"Hey, maybe you should use the bathroom before the movie starts so you don't miss any. I went before I left the house, so I can save our seats," she hinted.

"Okay," Brittany agreed easily. She'd gone five steps before she turned around and said, "You're so lucky I really do have to go, or that wouldn't have worked again."

Realizing she'd been caught, both now and earlier on the phone, Rachel blushed but giggled, which set Brittany off. Rachel was still giggling quietly when she entered the correct screening room. She was scanning it for decent seats when she heard her name.

"Hey Rachel."

Turing to the voice, she found Artie and Tina sitting in the handicap row that separated the two halves of the room's stadium style seating.

"Hi guys!" she approached them with a bright smile on her face. She got along fairly well with them.

"I never would have expected to see you here," Artie stated, an impressed look on his face. "It doesn't really seem like your type of movie."

"While I must admit I'd rather see the new Sex and the City, the previews did make this movie appear very aesthetically pleasing," she confessed.

Tina gave her a crooked grin. "Yeah, the actors are pretty cute."

Rachel frowned. "I wasn't actually speaking about that so much as the special effects," then she grinned mischievously, "but yeah, they really are."

The other two teens let out surprised laughter. They'd never seen Rachel so relaxed. _What had happened to her?_

"Would you like to sit with us?" Artie offered.

Rachel was taken aback by the proposal. "I don't want to impose on your date, and besides..."

"You wouldn't be imposing. Why should you sit alone when we're right here? You should join us," Tina insisted.

"While it's a lovely offer..."

"Berry, get over here!" Puck yelled at her from the doorway. "Shit, we can't take her anywhere," he muttered loudly to Mike.

She looked over at her friends waiting on her before turning back to Artie and Tina. "Like I was saying, it's a lovely offer, but I'm not actually here alone."

Artie and Tina were both gaping in shock, their eyes sliding from Rachel to Puck (who nodded), Brittany, Matt, and Mike (all three of whom were waving with varying levels of enthusiasm) and back again.

Tina recovered first. "You came with them?"

Rachel smiled happily as she started to walk away. "Yes."

Artie shook his head, clearly still surprised, though he was grinning too. "Well, have fun, Rachel."

She paused mid-stride to look back at them. "You too!"

When she reached her group, still waiting in the doorway, she was aware that Tina and Artie were still watching her. She wasn't at all surprised by their astonishment at this revelation. It had to take some getting used to for others to see her with the jock gleeks. Or anyone at all really.

After she took her soda from Puck, their group found seats in the fourth row (_'This is so bad for our eyes' 'Live a little Berry'_). When they arranged themselves in the row, Rachel somehow found herself sandwiched between Puck at one end of their group and Brittany. She couldn't help but notice that Matt was clear at the other end of the row, as far from her as possible. Logic told her that was a coincidence, but her instincts said that Puck had arranged their seating that way. Luckily she didn't have to deal with Brittany's questions or Puck's off-color comments because the previews began almost immediately.

Halfway through the preview for The Sorcerer's Apprentice Rachel leaned over to ask Puck where her popcorn was.

"You can share mine," he responded never taking his eyes from the screen but moving the large bag between his legs so she wouldn't have to stretch.

So Rachel spent the whole first quarter of the movie basically reaching into Puck's lap. The first time she caught him smirking at her, she blushed bright red and decided she'd had enough popcorn.

When they left the theater after the movie (and after saying goodbye to Artie and Tina, who still looked both highly disconcerted and amused), they were all hopped up on caffeine, sugar, and adrenaline. They were arguing over restaurants when they reached Rachel's car, which was parked closest since the rest had settled for the angled spots around the park down the street.

"Well that's not good," Matt announced.

They were all standing on the sidewalk looking at the two inches left between her Prius and the two cars on either end of it.

Instantly incensed, Rachel's hands hit her hips and she stomped her foot. "Who does that?! It's _so_ inconsiderate!" She turned her accusing glare on Puck. "It's like something you'd do!"

When Puck opened his mouth to retort, Mike cut him off (because those two arguing? Not getting them _anywhere_).

"I'll give you a lift to the restaurant and bring you back afterwards to pick up your car. Hopefully they'll have moved by then."

She nodded. "Okay."

When they reached Mike's vehicle he said, "Damn. I forgot I borrowed my dad's truck because my car got a flat this morning and I don't have a spare. I don't have room for you Rach since I've already got Britt and Matt. I'm sorry," he explained apologetically.

She felt the disappointment keenly; she didn't want to cut the night short.

"Don't be stupid Mike," Brittany admonished him. "Someone can just ride with Puck. You are coming with us, right?"

"Of course," he drawled.

"Good. Rachel, you'll ride with Puck," she declared. She shoved Rachel in Puck's direction for good measure.

The ride to the restaurant was quiet and uncomfortable. Without the other three present, all of the awkwardness from the aftermath of the almost-kiss returned. Plus, Rachel couldn't stop mulling over Noah's odd behavior. He had crashed her plans with Brittany and the boys, bought her soda and shared his popcorn with her, and sat next to her (and unless she was mistaken, ensured Matt sat far away from her). She just really didn't understand him.

Once they rejoined the others at Wendy's, things got back to normal. The boys discussed the movie and sword-fought (immaturely in her opinion) with their fries while she and Britt giggled over the actors in the movie and shared their sides (mandarin oranges for Rachel and fries for Brittany). Occasionally their conversations overlapped. It was noisy, confusing, and absolutely wonderful. Mike insisted on teaching Rachel how to make a scrunched up straw wrapper snake with her soda, Brittany declared they were going shopping tomorrow morning the instant she found out Rachel didn't own a single pair of shorts, Matt topped off the meal by buying everyone frosties (Brittany overrode Rachel's objections at the dairy), and Puck flirted outrageously with both her and Britt. She was really enjoying herself until Mike asked if Kurt had visited anyone else that day.

"He dropped by my house saying something about polling to see if he should check out your swimsuit, Rach. I shut the door in his face," he smirked in a very Puck-like way.

Though none of the others had been home that morning, Kurt had apparently attempted to contact all of them.

Brittany frowned, "I had a missed call from him when I found my phone right before Mike picked me up." They all gave her exasperated looks. "What? I left it in the fridge when I made breakfast this morning after I talked to Rachel. It wasn't _really_ lost."

Puck nodded, "I had a message from him too, but I just deleted it like I always do."

"I let my voicemail pick up when I saw he was calling," Matt admitted. "He's kind of annoying, so I always screen and call him back only if it's important."

They turned to Rachel. She sighed. Might as well tell the truth.

"He stopped by and insisted on inspecting my swimsuit," she grimaced as she remembered the encounter.

"What'd he say?" Brittany asked, an unusually serious expression on her face.

"Nothing much. Just that the glee club had taken a vote to inspect my suit and ensure I wouldn't embarrass everyone. He also said that I have no...um," she blushed, not sure she wanted to say it aloud. Instead, she glanced down at her chest and luckily the others understood what she meant. "Oh, and that I'd look like a stalk of asparagus because of the color," she finished, ashamed that she'd told them details instead of the vague outline she'd intended.

"But that...what?...he can't..." Brittany had apparently lost her power of coherent speech.

Mike was muttering angrily under his breath and Matt was mouthing wordlessly.

Puck stunned them all into silence when he slammed his fist on the table. Rachel even turned her eyes to him in shock.

"Who the fuck does he think he is, the goddamn fashion police?! He's a fuckin' asshole and I never should have stopped throwing him in the dumpster! I knew there was a reason I did that! Because that's all he's fuckin' worth, tearing down Ra...others just because they're better than him!" This all burst from him as if he simply couldn't hold it in anymore and he stood up.

"Calm down Puck," Mike tried to soothe him.

"Calm down?! How the fuck am I supposed to do that?! Aren't you fuckin' pissed at him?! Rachel's your friend!" he roared.

"She is. And of course I am, but..." Mike started.

"Then how...?!" Puck cut him off.

Amazed at his fury (yet surprisingly not scared), Rachel reached out and laid a hand on his arm. This evidently got through to him because he looked down at her. She was dumbfounded by the anger she could see burning in his beautiful hazel eyes. _ Was that for her?_

"It's okay, Noah. I'm used to it. It barely even hurts anymore," she stated softly, ignoring the internal voice that called her a liar. She tugged on his arm, and he let her pull him back down into his chair. "Your support," she turned her gaze to include everyone at the table, truly her new friends, "all of your support; it means a lot to me. Let's not let Kurt ruin our fun. He does enough of that at school."

She forced a grin and they mostly returned it, but they were clearly still upset about what they'd learned (and Puck was plainly furious). It wasn't surprising when the group broke up fifteen minutes later. As they said their goodbyes in the parking lot, Mike and Matt squeezed her between them in one armed hugs, making her giggle (and Puck scowl) and Brittany hugged her too, saying she'd call early the next morning because she was taking her shopping for shorts (_'Your skirts are super cute, but everyone should have at least one pair of shorts. What if we want to play football in the park later?'_).

The ride back to her car was tense. Puck was obviously angry, and Rachel didn't know what to say to fix it. So, she was very relieved when they drove past her car to find the space in front of it empty. Puck parked a bit farther down the block and followed Rachel back to her car.

"Thank you for the ride. I'm sorry I kind of ruined dinner," she apologized as they stood next to her Prius for the second time in as many nights.

"Don't ever fucking apologize for Kurt. We needed to know how he treated you; it's what friends are for," he stated gruffly, avoiding her eyes.

She smiled up at him. "We're friends?"

He rolled his eyes. "Whatever Berry. I'll pick you up for your lesson at three tomorrow," he declared. He hesitated briefly before dropping a kiss on her forehead.

By the time Rachel realized what had happened, he was gone, no trace left but the tingling of her skin where his lips had touched.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot. I also don't own 'Friends.'  
A/N: I would like to thank everyone who has reviewed so far and all of my readers. You guys are awesome! The gadget listed in the last portion of this chapter is something that I actually found on the internet. I thought it was appropriate for this story. I know we've done the mall once already, but they had to go back there to set up what I want to happen in this chapter. Don't worry, this chapter is very different from chapter 2.

Rachel was uncomfortable. And it wasn't her usual I'm-a-star-and-everyone-resents-it ache. No, this was an actual physical discomfort. She was pretty sure her pillow had grown a tumor. To her sleep fogged mind that was the only logical explanation for the awkward lump currently resting under her neck. Even pounding the bulge as hard as she could hadn't helped.

Okay, so she could just get out of bed and then she wouldn't have to worry about it, but she'd woken up fifteen minutes before her alarm. And even Rachel Berry couldn't be expected to be perky before her alarm went off. She was really starting to resent her magically swelling pillow; it had completely ruined a perfectly good dream that was all hard chest, muscular abs, and captivating nipple ring (okay, so it was a pretty fantastic dream-all the more reason to hate the pillow). She'd spent the last ten minutes trying to recapture those rapidly dwindling images and the feelings they invoked, but she had yet to succeed. Hence her current resentment towards her pillow. And it was normally a perfectly lovely pillow.

As the chorus of 'Break My Stride' rang out, Rachel shot up in bed. _ Where had her last five minutes gone?_ She looked down. Oh, right, the pillow. Picking up the offending cushion, she threw it as hard as she could across the room. And spotted the white tiger she'd forgotten to remove from under it before going to bed the previous night.

It'd been fairly late by the time she got home and she was still in a daze from her lastest encounter with Noah (_did he really kiss her on the forehead?_ She wouldn't believe it except that her forehead had tingled _all the way home_). After changing into her pajamas she'd fallen into bed and crashed out almost instantly. She hadn't even remembered the stuffed animal she'd hidden under her pillow the previous day. Apparently by 6:45 she was rested enough for the pain from sleeping with her neck at such an awkward angle to break through and wake her up. She couldn't resent the tiger for that though (or at all), so, in a slightly better mood, she placed it on the nightstand and fetched her pillow before climbing onto the elliptical.

After following her usual morning routine, she once again found herself in front of her closet wrapped in a towel when her phone rang. It was Brittany (_'Rachel? Is that you?'_-this made her laugh every time). They kept the call short because Brittany just wanted to say that she'd be by to pick her up at ten.

Rachel got dressed (black skirt and pale pink button down blouse) and grabbed a quick breakfast. By the time she had recorded that day's MySpace video ('Friends' by Band of Skulls-she wasn't all pop and ballads), Brittany was knocking on the door.

"I can't find my phone," she greeted.

Rachel sighed. "How did that happen? You called me not even an hour ago."

"I think Tiffany hid it from me. She was laughing really hard while I looked for it before I left, so I'm pretty sure it's her fault this time," Brittany defended herself.

Rachel wasn't so sure about that; she thought it more likely that Tiffany just thought Brittany's panic was funny. She didn't want to argue with her though.

"Yeah, you're probably right."

Rachel slipped on last night's sandals, grabbed her purse, and followed Brittany to her red Ford Focus. They didn't talk much on the drive to the mall; they were too busy singing along to the Katy Perry CD Brittany had in. Rachel had never noticed before because she always sung backup, but Brittany had a really nice voice. It made her wonder why she'd never had a solo in glee. She made a note to fix that next year and added proposal number 89 to her list. Turns out? She was much happier to share solos with her friends (it may have also helped that Brittany's voice was a different range from her own).

They paused just inside the entrance to the mall to decide their course of action.

"We're having a pretty day," Brittany declared decisively.

"What's a pretty day?" Rachel had never heard that term before.

Brittany's mind was clearly elsewhere, making plans, as she answered. "It's where we get all pretty. We shop and get manicures, haircuts, and waxes, basically all that girly stuff that Mike says makes him want to walk into traffic. I usually do pretty days with Quinn and Santana-we have a standing schedule-but it should be just as fun with just the two of us. Normally we get massages, but since this is short notice and you don't have Cheerio no-notice massage privileges, I guess we'll have to skip it." She clapped her hands together as she gave a happy little bounce. "Alright. Shopping first. We must find you a pair of shorts."

Rachel scowled. She was quite happy with her skirts.

Brittany saw her expression and obviously didn't approve. "Rachel Berry, you are leaving here with a pair of shorts today if I have to pick them out for you. Actually I like that idea better; I could probably find a pair that would strike Puck dumb if I didn't have to worry about your fashion modesty. You have an awesome figure; you should totally rock it and experiment with your wardrobe."

Rachel had thought of herself as a lot of things before (star, fabulous, clever, talented), but she had never considered herself unadventurous. She also couldn't resist a challenge (something Puck had exploited on her last mall trip).

"Okay. You can advise me, _just_ advise," she stressed, "and I will consider your input."

Brittany cocked her head to the side as she considered Rachel's offer.

"That works for me!" she said, grinning. With that she grabbed Rachel's hand and pulled her through the mall to their first store of the day.

Rachel learned that Brittany was a speed shopper. On Tuesday they had just been browsing and hanging out once they bought their swimsuits, but they had a goal today and Brittany was driven to reach it. She was also positively full of advice. She had something to say about everything-cut, color, lines, material. Rachel was so overwhelmed by her opinions that she found herself letting the blonde simply weigh her down with anything she thought would look good on Rachel. Which was _a lot_. Apparently Brittany hadn't just been being nice when she said Rachel had an awesome figure; she really meant it. This is how Rachel found herself ushered repeatedly into dressing rooms with the maximum number of articles allowed. She modeled everything for Brittany who then either accepted it as a maybe or rejected it outright.

Rachel was aware that all of this may have made Brittany sound a lot like Kurt, but in reality she was about as different from him as possible. Even if she approved of something, if Rachel didn't like it or wasn't comfortable in it, Brittany immediately tossed it into the reject pile. And if Rachel spotted something she wanted to try on, Brittany grabbed it (Rachel's arms were invariably stuffed with garments that Britt had foisted on her) and added it to the pile. When the blonde rejected something, she was never mean about it; she'd just shake her head and motion Rachel back into the dressing room to try on the next item. On the other hand, she was very generous with her praise when she approved; Rachel was quite sure she'd have an ego the size of Puck's once they finally finished their shopping. The best part was that Brittany's clothing choices took into account Rachel's taste. She rarely went too wide of the mark, though she did occasionally mix in a color that the brunette normally wouldn't have picked (_'We're experimenting, remember?'_).

By the time they were done shopping, they'd been to five different stores in less than two hours and Rachel had several new purchases to show for it. She'd gotten three new tops in colors that she wouldn't usually choose, but which looked surprisingly good on her, and five pairs of shorts. Her favorite was a pair Brittany bought for her (_'You don't have to.' 'I want to Rach.'_)-scandalously short dark blue denim with several small gold stars embroidered on the back pockets. Brittany may not have been the most academic girl but turns out? She's an absolute genius with fashion. Rachel felt a little frazzled from the frantic activity and no wonder: Britt's entire focus had been on her. She hadn't bought a single thing for herself; she hadn't even been looking. Needless to say, the brunette was relieved when Brittany declared the shopping portion of their trip done and steered her into a nail salon for manicures.

They lucked out and got manicurists next to each other, so they were able to chat while they got their nails done. Britt talked Rachel out of her typical French manicure (she _may_ have threatened to take back the gold star shorts) and was currently trying to talk her into a shiny dark red.

"It'll match your bikini Rachel," she said seriously.

"I don't even know if I'll wear that yet. I'm not sure how comfortable I'd be showing that much skin around everyone else," Rachel admitted to her.

"Oh, you will. I have faith in you," Brittany declared casually, choosing a sunny yellow to go with her own new swimsuit.

Rachel chose the red (but only because it really was a beautiful color. It had _nothing_ to do with the bikini. _Nothing_).

ooooo

"I hate you right now," Rachel complained 45 minutes later as she and Brittany left the tiny spa in the mall. "When you said we were going to get waxed, I thought you meant our eyebrows."

"You've already said that," Brittany pointed out.

Rachel wanted to protest, but the blonde was right. She had launched this exact same complaint at least twenty times since she had learned that Britt intended for them to get both their brows and bikini areas waxed. Rachel had protested vehemently, but Brittany had apparently learned how to manipulate her in an insanely short amount of time. So, Rachel was now heading toward the salon, sore in places that she shouldn't be sore in.

"I feel like I'm walking funny. Am I walking funny?" She glanced at Brittany, a grimace on her face.

This of course just set the other girl to laughing. Rachel vaguely realized their normal roles were reversed at the moment, but who was she to argue? When it came to beauty practices, Britt was clearly the better-versed of the two.

"No, you're walking just like you always do," she answered once she had calmed down. "The wax will make you look even better in your bikini, so the pain is worth it, you'll see. Your eyebrows look fantastic by the way. They really make your eyes look bigger."

"Thanks (she'd stopped arguing over the bikini-it was just easier). Your brows are really elegant." Rachel smiled at her. "I still hate you, you know."

The girls met each other's gazes and burst into laughter. Rachel thought it was pretty wonderful to have a friend who understood her. Before Brittany and the guys, she had never laughed so much, not even when she was dating Finn.

"Brittany, what on earth are you doing with manhands?" came a snide voice.

At the sound of the insult, all of Rachel's good humor drained out of her as she faced Quinn and Santana, the former the source of the question (and insult). She knew that her friendship with Brittany couldn't stay secret forever. After all, Mike, Matt, Noah, Artie, and Tina already knew, but all five of them liked Rachel to a certain extent. These two loathed Rachel and weren't exactly subtle about it. They were bound to force Brittany to choose between them and her, if they didn't outright decide for her, and Rachel was afraid that she knew who'd win if it came down to that. Brittany had been friends with the other two girls for years, so how could Rachel expect to triumph over that history? And she would _never_ force a choice like that on Brittany. Quinn and Santana were staring at Rachel, bitchiest expressions in place.

Brittany however didn't notice the tension between her three friends. "We're having a pretty day," she informed them. "Oh, did you know Rachel was never actually in an accident? She doesn't really have manhands; that was just a mean rumor someone started. Her hands are very pretty. See." The blonde explained this all in one breath, lifting one of Rachel's newly manicured hands up where the other two could see. "And Rupaul isn't her middle name either. That's Barbra. Rachel Barbra Berry. Isn't that a nice name?"

"Lovely," Santana mocked sarcastically. "We're heading for the spa to get massages since my daddy took away my keys for coming in after curfew last night. We tried calling you. Ditch Rupaul and come with us."

"We're going to the salon for haircuts," Brittany stated. Then she frowned. "I told you. Rupaul's not part of her name. Why are you still calling her that?" She faced Rachel. "Why is she calling you that? Who is Rupaul really?"

Rachel didn't want to tell her, but she couldn't ignore her either. "Rupaul is the name of a famous drag queen." At Britt's confused look, she elaborated, "A man who dresses in women's clothing."

Rachel watched this information sink in. It was heartbreaking to watch Brittany's expression go from bewildered to sad.

"But we've been calling you that since freshman year," she murmured. "All this time we've been being mean to you?" She looked at the other two Cheerios. "Did you know this?"

Santana rolled her eyes. "Of course we did. That was kind of the point Britt."

"Yeah. I mean, look at her,' Quinn added gesturing at Rachel's blouse and skirt combo. "How can you not want to ridicule that?"

Brittany's expression took a nosedive from sad to crushed. "But she's really nice. I didn't want to make fun of her."

"Really, Brittany," Santana huffed, "you're a Cheerio. We don't even talk to manhands in glee, so we definitely don't speak with her outside of glee let alone go shopping with her. So, you're going to leave her and we'll pretend this," she waved her hand at Rachel, "never happened."

Brittany looked so upset that Rachel couldn't take it anymore. She didn't like to see her friend hurt, so she made a choice. She laid her hand on the blonde's arm.

"It's okay, Brittany. You can go with them. You guys have been best friends forever and I don't want to interfere with that. I've managed for years without friends so I'll be fine," she assured her in a soft voice.

"Like we care," Quinn sneered.

Brittany stood there silently for several moments looking down at Rachel (she was at least four inches taller than the brunette-_and what a weird time to realize that_). She then fixed her eyes on the two Cheerios in front of her. She still wasn't saying anything and this clearly unnerved her two oldest friends.

"Brittany, I thought we had a thing," Santana mentioned with a flirtatious smile.

"No, we don't. You told me I had to choose between you and Mike," Brittany reminded her. "And Mike likes eating cookies in bed."

"We could go back to our earlier arrangement. You can keep Mike and still have me." The Latina had obviously pulled out all the stops.

"I don't want to." Brittany took a deep breath as if preparing herself to do something drastic. "I'm tired of you always telling me what to do. I'm not a child. I can make my own decisions and pick my own friends and I don't need your approval. Rachel's my friend; she treats me like an adult and she makes me laugh. Just like Mike, 'cept different because we're just friends. I like spending time with her and I don't think I should have to stop. She's not making me choose between her and the two of you; she's trying to make things easier on me even if it means ending our friendship. She's putting my happiness first and you're not or you wouldn't make me choose. So, I've decided. I'm going to stay friends with Rachel and you'll just have to get used to it if you want to stay friends with me." She crossed her arms over her chest as she finished her speech.

The only other time Rachel had ever seen Brittany so serious was the previous night when she learned about the Kurt stuff. It took a couple of minutes for her to absorb what Britt had said and when she did, she felt like her heart had suddenly expanded. The slightly ditzy, blonde Cheerio had chosen her. Well, technically, she had chosen all three but she'd made it clear that she didn't intend to ditch Rachel for her other friends and that they'd have to deal. Rachel was so proud of her; Brittany had stood up for herself and wasn't going to let the other two push her around anymore. And Rachel got to keep her friend. Still, a part of her regretted what had just happened. It had been like watching a part of the blonde's innocence shatter and she _hated_ that she'd been partially responsible.

"Whatever," Quinn brushed the entire thing off with a single word.

"When you come to your senses, call us," Santana commanded.

Then they both brushed past Brittany and Rachel, knocking hard into either side of the brunette on the way.

ooooo

"Why are you friends with me?" Brittany blurted out over lunch.

After the drama with Quinn and Santana, the two girls had gone to the salon as planned and gotten their hair trimmed (both were happy with their current styles). The visit had been mostly quiet. Brittany was deep in thought the entire time and Rachel didn't want to disturb her while she processed the earlier events. She had, after all, just made a huge change. Since it had already passed 1:30, they had decided to have lunch in the food court before Brittany dropped Rachel off at her house (just in time for Noah to pick her up). They'd ordered, found a seat, and eaten most of the meal with minimal conversation. So, Rachel was surprised when Brittany opened up with that question.

"The same reasons you said you're friends with me. You're nice to me and you make me laugh. I have fun hanging out with you," Rachel answered without hesitation.

Brittany still seemed unhappy. "But I've been so mean to you."

Rachel shrugged. "You didn't know you were being mean. I know you didn't intend to insult me. Besides, Noah has been ten times worse, and I'm friends with him."

Brittany grinned, her good humor evidently restored with the reassurance. "That's 'cause you like him," she teased.

The brunette shook her head, but she was smiling. She considered before leaning forward conspiratorially and whispering, "He kissed me on the forehead last night."

Brittany squealed so loudly the people at the surrounding tables turned to look at them and Rachel jerked back. "Ohmygosh! That's so exciting! What did it feel like? What did you do? Did you jump him? You so should have!"

Nursing her sore eardrums from Brittany's shriek, Rachel giggled, "He left before I even realized he'd kissed me. My skin felt all tingly the whole way home," she sighed dreamily.

The blonde nodded knowingly. "That's how I feel after Mike kisses me. This is just so exciting. He'll probably kiss your lips next time."

Rachel just smiled.

A short time later, they headed for the exit. As they were walking past Radio Shack, Rachel paused.

"Do you mind if we take a quick detour into here?"

Brittany shrugged and followed her into the store. While Britt was distracted by the robotic toy dog on display (_'How cute! Hey, it's barking!'_), Rachel found the section she was looking for. She considered the selection of items when a voice spoke behind her (_how come everyone always approached her from behind?_ Oh, right, 'cause she'd see them if they came from in front).

"Hey, Rachel."

Turning, she found herself facing Finn, who was only slightly pink and making eye contact for once. "Hi Finn."

"So, it's true then? You're really friends with Brittany?" he asked, gesturing to the Cheerio who was prodding the dog. "'Cause Mike called Tuesday night and asked for your number. He said he was giving it to her. I thought that was strange."

Sighing, because he clearly wasn't going to just leave her alone, she responded. "Yeah, we're really friends. Did you need something?"

He rubbed his hand over the back of his neck and gave her the puppy dog grin that used to give her butterflies. She was a little shocked to feel nothing except for a slight wistfulness for something a little more roguish (_she really must be over him_).

"So then Tina and Artie were telling the truth about seeing you at the movies with her, Matt, Mike, and Puck?" he questioned, disgust obvious in his pronunciation of the last name.

Deciding she didn't really care for that, she turned back to the shelves and made a selection. She felt like he was just hedging around his real point. When she went to the counter to pay, he followed her.

"Why was Puck with you?" he demanded, finally getting to the point.

She couldn't believe this. They weren't dating anymore, so he had no right to sound so jealous. And he definitely had no say in who she hung out with.

"We're friends," she bit out shortly, taking her change from the cashier and thanking him. "Goodbye Finn."

She rejoined Brittany and grabbed her hand, pulling her from the store.

"Bye Finn!" the blonde called out, waving to the stunned boy as she let Rachel drag her to the door outside.

Brittany, skilled at reading Rachel's expressions, didn't ask what had happened, and for that Rachel was glad. She couldn't really explain, even to herself, why she had gotten so annoyed with Finn. She just didn't like the way he had said Puck's name or the way he was acting all possessive. They had broken up over two months ago and not spoken since, except when they had to for glee. He had no right to behave as if he had some sort of claim on her.

The car ride back to Rachel's house was spent singing again, Paramore this time. She was really loving Brittany's taste in music. When Britt stopped in her driveway, Rachel handed her the bag she'd gotten in Radio Shack. Brittany appeared mystified, but pulled the little box out of the bag. After studying it, she asked Rachel for an explanation.

"What is this?"

"It's a wireless remote finder. You just attach one of the receivers to your cell phone and then when you lose it..." Brittany cleared her throat, so Rachel added, "or Tiffany hides it, you just push the matching button on the remote and the receiver on the phone will make a loud beeping noise that you can use to find it. And tah-dah! No more lost phone."

Brittany was silent for a moment before practically throwing herself on Rachel (or at least as much as her seat belt would allow).

"Thank you _so_ much! This is the nicest thing anyone's ever bought me! You don't know how annoying it is to have my phone constantly disappear," she thanked her profusely before pulling away. "You're so nice! I knew I made the right choice today. Quinn and Santana don't know what they're missing."

Rachel, glowing (_it was an amazing feeling, giving a gift to someone_), smiled brightly back at her as she climbed out of the car. "I'm glad you think so. Well, just make sure you don't lose the remote. You should find one place to keep it at all times; otherwise it won't help you."

Brittany nodded. "'Kay."

Rachel was halfway to her front door when Brittany yelled her name. She spun around and found Brittany sticking her head out of her open window.

"Yeah?"

"Mike wanted me to tell you to come to his house tonight. He's having a cookout for some of his friends and he wanted me to invite you."

Rachel was taken aback and grinned happily. "Alright then." Her brow furrowed. "Why didn't he just ask me? You could have given him my number."

Brittany rolled her eyes. "He added your number to his phone when he got it from Finn. I told him he should call you, but he said that 'I'm a boy. I don't do phones.'" She deepened her voice in a very bad imitation of Mike then continued in her normal tone, "He's such a wuss sometimes. I mean, it's like he's afraid of the phone or something."

"And that's super manly," Rachel observed dryly. The girls shared a laugh at the irony.

"I have to get home and find my phone so I can use my cool new present. Mike's cookout is at 6:30. He lives at 21 Maple. If you need directions you can call him, Matt, or me and we'll help you. See you later!"

As Rachel watched Brittany pull out of her driveway, already bopping to her music, she felt hopeful that this would be her best summer ever.

A/N 2: Sorry for the lack of Puck/Rachel in this chapter. I hope the Brittany/Rachel/Quinn/Santana confrontation made up for it. Rest assured that our three favorite guys will all be back next chapter.


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot. I also do not own Titanic or Robot Chicken.  
A/N: I would like to acknowledge medchemgirl. In a review, she totally predicted something I had planned for this chapter before I'd even written it. As always, thank you to all my reviewers and readers! This story has had over 9000 hits since I posted chapter 1 and I just find that positively amazing! Also, just a quick note on the story, I did some research into Ohio law for the final section of this chapter, so it should be accurate. If it's not, I apologize. Please read and review. Thanks!

Rachel was hot. And not temperature-hot either. Electric heat was running under her skin and coming to a boil in her blood. She felt as if her stomach was jumping; those butterflies that had gone on vacation when Finn smiled at her earlier were definitely back and had brought some new friends with them.

She had been turned on before, but this was just ridiculous. It had started the instant Noah picked her up for their swim lesson. She once again found herself locked in the tiny cab of his truck and not even the air conditioning on full blast could cool her down. By the time they arrived at the same farm house from the previous day, her nerves were as shot as they were at the end of yesterday's lesson. And Puck wasn't even shirtless yet!

_She was clearly doomed._

To make matters worse, that damn spot on her forehead where he'd kissed her last night started tingling again the instant they made eye contact. Nothing eased it, not even when she rubbed it discreetly while he was looking the other way (the last thing she wanted was for him to know something so simple had such a strong effect on her). If this was how her body reacted to a mere press of his lips to her forehead, what would happen if he ever truly kissed her? The question disturbed her on so many levels (it _certainly_ didn't intrigue her _at all_). The awkwardness of the almost-kiss had disappeared finally, but only because there was a brand new discomfort in the air.

He had said they were friends last night, but she definitely had the feeling that he hadn't meant to say it. _So, were they really friends?_ And if they were friends, what did that mean for this whatever (_heat, passion, desire_-her traitorous mind was all too happy to label it) that was brewing between them. If he really had taken her up on that offer that she made so many months ago (at the end of their not-a-real-relationship), did she want to risk ruining that by giving into the urges he stirred up? Urges that she knew perfectly well he acted on with everyone? As she had pulled off the blouse and skirt over the top of her swimsuit (the one piece, she didn't want to think of what might happen if she ever wore that bikini in front of him), she had pondered these questions.

The answer? No, she didn't want to risk their new friendship, if that was in fact what they had.

So, she had come to a conclusion. If she was going to avoid doing something stupid (like kissing him), she would need to distract herself. She had learned two things the previous day. Number one, thoughts of Quinn, Santana, and cougars cooled her ardor for him. Number two, if she didn't want to throw herself at him, she needed to get angry. Luckily number one inevitably led to number two. A little too well actually.

"Damn it Rachel! I said turn your head away from the arm you're moving. Do you want to drown?!" Puck yelled at her from the deck as she surfaced near the edge of it and tread water.

Turns out? Her snapping at Puck clearly pissed him off royally. They had been fighting pretty much from the moment they'd stripped down to their suits. It had started when he told her to demonstrate treading water for him and she had retorted that she had done that all day yesterday and didn't need to do it again. He had angrily responded that he was in charge and she'd do what he said if she didn't want to embarrass herself on Saturday. Things had just gone downhill from there.

Not that they weren't making progress. After she had demonstrated treading water and the doggy paddle, he'd instructed her on how to actually swim. After she'd shown that she could use the movements he'd shown her, he'd climbed out of the pool to give her room to practice. He had continued to observe her from the deck, critiquing her technique extremely harshly in her opinion (_also not helping her anger_). They'd been at it for just over an hour. She'd already made several laps around the pool and she thought she was doing quite well. She was no longer swallowing water with her every stroke and she was keeping her head above the surface for the most part. He, however, obviously disagreed.

She glared up at him. "Don't yell at me! I'm doing perfectly well. I'm doing it just like you told me to, so you clearly gave me incorrect instructions if you think I'm doing it wrong!"

Puck let out a frustrated roar. "You're so fuckin' annoying! I don't know why in the hell I ever offered to teach you to swim!"

When he said things like that (as he had for the entire lesson), she wanted to hate him. Instead, all she could think about was the intensity of his eyes when he had been furious at Kurt last night on her behalf. And that led to memories of her dream. She hadn't been able to recall the dream this morning when she'd really wanted to, but it had all come rushing back when she spotted his chest. The same chest from her dream. And that nipple ring. Just the sight of it sent shivers down her spine. _And she didn't want shivers!_ Every time the sight of him stirred those feelings up again, she would mentally repeat the litany of 'Quinn, Santana, cougars', which of course just made her angry again and restarted the whole process.

"Get out of the damn pool! I'm taking you home since you're acting like such a fucking bitch today!" he shouted at her, running a hand over his mohawk as he squatted near the water.

_He did not just call me a bitch!_ She couldn't believe he would talk to her like that (okay, so she could, but she'd thought they were past that). Without even considering what she was doing, she used one hand to hit the water in front of her as hard as possible at him. A large wave arced through the air and hit him square in the face. Caught by surprise, his mouth gaped widely. He looked so ridiculous that Rachel immediately started laughing. Hard.

Three seconds later, he recovered his composure and his power of speech. "What the fuck, Berry?! Did you really just splash me?"

She giggled, her earlier rage forgotten. "Yeah, I think I did."

"And you're laughing at me?! Do you have a death wish Berry?"

She smirked (she'd learned well from him) smugly up at him. "What are you gonna do about it? You're up there and I'm all the way down here," she taunted.

"Oh, it is so on," he threatened, jumping into the pool.

He reached for her, but she'd already taken off, using her newly learned swimming skills. Unfortunately, in swimming, just as in walking, his considerably taller stature gave him the advantage over her. She managed to use her agility and tiny body to her advantage, changing directions easily, but her swimming skills weren't was strong as his. It didn't take long for him to pin her against the side of the pool near the deck, one hand gripping the edge of the wall on either side of her while she tread water.

"I've caught you," he said, his voice low. "Now, what should I do with you?"

Her stomach knotted at his proximity (and his tone).

"Let me go," she suggested hopefully.

He shook his head. "No, I can think of something much better."

Puck crowded closer to her so that she no longer had the room to move her arms and legs to stay afloat. With no choice, she grabbed his shoulders to keep herself above water. Trying to ignore how solid he was under her hands, she repeatedly thought, _don't make eye contact, don't make eye contact_. If she looked into those gorgeous hazel eyes, which she knew were simmering with heat right now, she'd be lost. She would lean forward and kiss him and there'd be no going back.

When he moved one hand to her chin and tilted her face up to his, she closed her eyes tightly. She wasn't going to look at him. _She wasn't_.

"Rachel," he murmured in a husky voice.

Against her will, she opened her eyes. Her breath shortened at his expression; he looked like he wanted nothing more than to devour her. Her grip unconsciously tightened on his shoulders as she pulled slightly closer. His lips were coming toward hers. Even as she pulled forward to meet him, she thought vaguely that she should panic, but _oh, God, she wanted this so much_. He was just millimeters away; she could feel his warm breath on her lips.

"Puck? Are you here?"

Letting out a low _'Fuck'_, he shrugged her hands off and pulled away. Moving slightly to the side, he climbed out of the pool onto the deck.

Luckily, Rachel started treading water automatically as soon as his support was gone. Her head was fuzzy; she couldn't think. What had just happened? In a daze, Rachel followed Puck out of the pool (using the ladder that he always ignored).

Her feet hit the wood just in time to see a beautiful 40-something woman with long dark hair and a figure Rachel envied kiss Puck on the cheek. She then quietly said something to him that caused him to smirk. _Crap, crap, crap_. She'd actually let herself forget about the cougars. And now, here she was, actually watching him smirk at one of them and she knew the power of that smirk.

She picked up her clothes from the deck chair she had placed them on earlier and slipped on her sandals. As she reached the couple, she overheard Puck saying that something worked for him (she didn't hear the something). She tried to slip past them unnoticed (she _really _didn't want to make small talk with one of his cougars, not so soon after their heated near kiss), but he grabbed her arm and pulled her to a stop.

"Berry, this is Naomi," he introduced Rachel to the gorgeous brunette who was studying her curiously. "Naomi, this is Berry."

"Right." Rachel looked away from the woman to stare straight ahead and pulled her arm from Puck's grip. "I'll be in the truck when you're done here Noah," she stated coldly.

As she stomped across the yard and around the house, she fumed. How could he stand there and act so...so close to his cougar right in front of her. And then to introduce her by her last name as if she were nothing more than one of his football buddies? _How could he?_ Clearly she had been right when she thought she was no more than a sexual conquest to him. She obviously couldn't trust herself around him, so she'd just cancel her last swim lesson. She had the hang of it now anyway.

She was already dried off, dressed, and sitting in the truck by the time Puck joined her. She waited impatiently as he also toweled off and pulled his shirt back on. She just really wanted to go home.

Neither of them spoke until they were on the road back into town. Then, not taking his eyes from the road, he addressed her in a deceptively casual tone.

"You were pretty rude to my aunt back there Berry."

Rachel was ready to haul off and tell him what he could do with his admonishment when it hit her.

"Your aunt?" she asked.

"Yeah, Naomi's my aunt. My mom's sister," he replied.

"But..." she stuttered in confusion, "I thought you said the pool belonged to a cougar."

"It does. Husband number three is 24," he explained easily.

"She calls you Puck, not Noah."

"I asked her to do that. Only my mom, sister, and you, for some reason, call me Noah," he said.

"You said that you had to convince her to lend you her pool." Even as Rachel said it she realized how moronic it sounded. "Why did you have to convince her if she's your aunt?"

Puck rolled his eyes. "Because she was worried about what would happen with her insurance if something happened to you. You didn't know how to swim; some risk was involved in teaching you. I had to agree to clean her pool all summer for free to get use of it."

Rachel was surprisingly touched by his admission. _He had given up the whole summer's worth of income from his aunt's pool cleanings to teach her to swim?_ No one had ever done anything so sweet for her. And he hadn't even so much as mentioned it to her until she behaved so horribly to his aunt. _Oh, no, what she must think of Rachel!_

"I'm sorry. I didn't know that was your aunt. I thought..." she trailed off. What she had thought wasn't flattering.

"You thought I'd fucked a cougar to use her pool," he stated matter-of-factly.

She blushed but answered honestly. "Yes."

He smirked over at her. "Babe, I totally could have," he focused back on the road and shifted uncomfortably in his seat, "but I sure as hell didn't want a lecture about how sex is special and all that shit."

She thought there might have been more to it than that (what was with all the squirming?) but she let it go. They were silent the rest of the ride home as she mused over what he'd just revealed. When he brushed against her turning on the radio as they entered town, her arm tingled and her blood heated. Now that she knew that Naomi wasn't one of his cougars and he hadn't traded sexual favors on her behalf, her desire had rushed back, even stronger than before if possible (_darn, she always was highly attracted to sensitivity-and Puck had shown it, even if it was in his own way_).

When he pulled up to the curb in front of her house, she placed her hand on his arm.

"Thanks Noah."

He glanced briefly at her before looking away.

"Whatever Berry," he acknowledged in a gruff voice.

When he pulled away from the curb, she wondered what he had told his aunt about her, because she just realized that Naomi's expression had been awfully interested when Puck introduced them.

ooooo

When Rachel parked against the curb in front of Mike's corner house later that evening, she was feeling pretty good. The Noah stuff was still as confusing as ever, but she was starting to think there might actually be hope there. Surely his discomfort in the truck had meant something. And, she'd just grasped that he had initiated their almost-kiss this time, so he had to be just as attracted to her as she was to him. So, she was smiling widely when she rang the doorbell.

She stood there for about a minute waiting for someone to answer. She was just beginning to get impatient when the front door swung open revealing Mike.

"We're all out back; you could have just come around," he greeted, letting her in.

"Hello to you too," she responded with a grin (he laughed) before following him through the house and out the back door.

His large back yard was made up of lush grass and dotted with trees at the edges though the center was clear. The far end of the yard was edged by the alleyway. They were standing on a large concrete patio. The wonderful scent of cooking burgers was coming from the slightly smoking grill to one side.

Mike placed both hands on her shoulders and turned her to face the back of the house. A grinning Matt, scowling Puck, and excited Brittany, arms thrown wide, were facing her from behind a nice wooden picnic table. Mike joined them, shaking his head.

"Guys? What are you doing?" Rachel asked, grinning at the oddness of the scene.

Brittany crossed her arms. "Read the banner." She jabbed her finger over her head.

Rachel noticed a white banner attached to the yellow siding of the house above their heads. 'Rachel Berry is hot!!!' was written on it. Rachel cracked up.

"What on earth?" she managed to get out breathlessly.

"We're having a Rachel-is-hot cookout," Brittany informed her, looking a bit put out by her reaction.

"I told them this was a fucking stupid idea, but Mike's so damn pussy-whipped he let Brittany do it anyway." Puck announced, frowning over at Mike.

"I am not," Mike muttered at him.

"Yes, you are. I said we should go kick Kurt's ass, but you let her do this instead," Puck argued back.

Brittany elbowed Mike in the ribs and glared at Puck. "Quiet. You're ruining it."

Matt just met Rachel's eyes and gave a long-suffering sigh.

Rachel laughed harder. God, she loved her friends.

"It's a lovely idea Britt," she reassured the blonde when she regained her breath. "You know I don't approve of violence Noah," she reminded him sternly before smiling, "but thanks for the thought." She sniffed the air. "I think the burgers are burning."

Mike looked past her and shouted, "Damn it!" He ran by while the other three stared at the grill.

Curious, Rachel turned around just in time to see Mike lift the lid of the grill. Smoke poured out and Rachel could see the flames that had jumped up. Once Mike managed to get the flames down, he flipped the burgers and reclosed the grill.

"I hope you guys like your burgers crispy because they definitely are on one side," he declared.

Fifteen minutes later, Rachel had gotten a strawberry soda (bought specially for her) from the cooler on the patio and helped Brittany and Matt carry the chips, Mike's mom's mac and cheese, buns, cheese, condiments, plates, napkins, and forks out from the kitchen to arrange them on the picnic table. Puck didn't help; he claimed he was supervising (which apparently meant sitting at the picnic table drinking his Mt. Dew). Mike was manning the grill of course. While they worked, Brittany asked Rachel if she wanted to stay over the next night and drive to the school together the following morning. Rachel happily agreed. _Her very first sleepover!_

Shortly after, they joined Puck at the picnic table to enjoy their meal of slightly burnt burgers, chips, and mac and cheese. As with both of their previous meals together, there was a lot of fun and laughter. Mike explained that his parents had taken his two younger siblings to visit his grandmother overnight. Halfway through, Brittany let out a yelp, hopped up from her spot, and ran inside the house. Rachel was happy to discover she was just as relaxed with the guys without Brittany as she was with her.

"Hey guys!" Brittany called from the edge of the patio after she had come back out.

Rachel and Matt, who was sitting next to her (Puck hadn't been happy about that), turned to face her while Mike and Puck looked up from their conversation. As soon as they were all looking at her, she lifted a pink camera and took a picture of them.

Mike groaned. "She's got her camera out again."

"I heard that," Brittany said, snapping a photo of Mike as she retook her place on Rachel's other side. "How will we ever remember our time together if I don't take pictures?"

Puck snorted. "They're called memories. We don't need the actual pictures because we have them up here." He tapped the side of his head.

"I wouldn't mind the photographs," Rachel offered softly. _It'd be nice to have proof she finally had friends_.

Puck's expression softened and she knew he understood what she hadn't said.

"Yay!" Brittany cheered. She threw an arm around Rachel and pulled her so that their heads were pressed together. Holding the camera out in front of them, she took a picture.

They cleaned up when they were done eating. Matt and Rachel rinsed and loaded what little dishes there were into the dishwasher while Puck hung around the kitchen, supervising again. Brittany gathered the trash up and Mike put away the leftovers and other items they hadn't used. All the while Brittany snapped photos. She claimed she needed proof that the guys actually helped.

It was still early when they finished, barely after 7:30, so Mike suggested that they play football after grabbing one from his room.

"I don't like football," Brittany whined. "It hurts."

Mike sighed. "We'd play touch football, not tackle, Britt. Besides, you suggested it last night when you said Rachel would need shorts if we decided to play football. Rachel's wearing shorts, so we're going to play football."

Mike had a point. Rachel was wearing her new gold star shorts. She also had on a new gold spaghetti strap tank top over her navy bra, the straps of which were showing due to how thin the straps of her top were (Puck's eyes had spent an inordinate amount of time on her shoulders tonight). She had settled for a pair of brown leather sandals with ankle straps to hold them on. Her hair was in a high, curly ponytail and her makeup was minimal once again. All in all, it wasn't a horrible setup for her first experience with football.

"I'll try it," she decided.

Matt grinned and put an arm around her shoulders, pulling her to him and shaking her slightly to show his approval. Puck scowled at him and Brittany snapped a picture of them.

"Matt's on my team," Puck declared, pulling him away from Rachel.

Mike smiled. "That means you're with me Rach." He gestured her to his side. "Brittany?"

After she took a picture of Mike with Rachel and Matt with Puck, she dropped her camera on the picnic table. "I'll play but only if I can be on the same team as Rachel."

They set the boundaries for scoring and agreed on the rules, which the boys explained to the girls. Apparently the two teams would take turns with possession of the ball. They had four downs to score; if they didn't succeed, they turned the ball over to the other team for their four downs which started wherever the other team had gotten to on the field. If a member of the other team touched the person with the ball, the play stopped. Matt explained to Rachel that they were only using very basic rules for their game since it was casual and just the five of them. After explaining the rules, play commenced.

It was decided that Mike, Rachel, and Brittany could have the ball first since the girls were new to the game (Brittany had only played with them once before). They conferred to come up with their play and Mike clarified that they would do this before every play so they knew what to expect each down.

Their first down was a disaster. Mike threw the ball to Rachel, who shrieked and ducked when it came at her nose (what? she would need an unblemished face when she was on Broadway). They didn't fare much better for their second down. Mike again threw a pass to Rachel, but this time it bounced off her when she covered her face with her hands. Mike decided to give Rachel a break on their third down. Instead, he threw it to Brittany. She was watching a squirrel scamper up a tree and the ball ricocheted off the back of her head, causing her to squeal in pain. By the time they huddled prior to their fourth down, Puck and Matt were both doubled over with laughter.

"Okay, we have to make some progress this time and shut those two bastards up," Mike stated. "Rachel, I want you to run near me when the play starts. I'm going to hand you the ball and then you run like hell toward the goal."

Rachel nodded. It was time to step up and be the winner she has always been.

When the play began, she followed Mike's instructions. Puck and Matt were both focused on Mike, clearly expecting him to try something since it was their last down, so Rachel got past the guys with the ball easily. However, it didn't take long for them to catch on that she had the ball and give chase. She had nearly made it to the trees that served as their team's goal, Mike and Brittany both yelling encouragement at her, when someone grabbed her butt.

Stunned, she turned around and saw Puck smirking back at her. She hit him in the chest as hard as she could (she was already down anyway).

"I'm pretty sure that's not what you guys meant about tagging us out."

"No one ever said where we had to touch," he said, smirk still firmly in place.

She smacked him again. "You tag someone out on their arm, not their butt!"

He let out a husky laugh, "Babe, I wanted to touch a gold star. They're just too tempting to resist. The fact that they're on your ass is just a bonus."

Outraged, she kicked him in the shin before stalking back to her teammates, tossing the ball to Matt on the way.

When the teams faced off against each other again, Mike announced, "I've been asked to make an addition to the rules. No copping a feel when you tag someone out."

Puck raised a brow at Rachel. "You can cop a feel if you want babe. I wouldn't mind."

She huffed in frustration, determined that he wouldn't score (in the game at least, with her on the other hand..._wait...what was she thinking?!_).

Mike was quite good at catching the guys. The girls didn't have to do much to end the other team's downs. Neither team made much progress as they played, but they were all having a lot of fun. Brittany jumped up and down and forgot to run to the goal the first time she caught the ball. Rachel was fairly decent at getting past the other team, though they always caught her before she scored. Mike was just good all around, but then again he was on the football team.

They were playing their last down of the game and it was the other team's ball. Nobody had scored yet. Matt managed to slip past Mike and Brittany, so it was up to Rachel to stop him. She was running full tilt after him when he crossed into his goal and came to a sudden stop. She tried to screech to a halt, but she was running too fast and barreled into him as he turned to face her. He wasn't braced for the impact, so he fell backwards and she landed on top of him.

"Hi there," Matt said, smiling up at her.

She giggled. "Hi."

She had braced her hands on his chest to push herself up when she felt someone yank her arm and pull her to her feet. She knew it was Noah from the electricity that skittered across her skin.

She spotted Brittany holding her camera and Mike watching the scene, clearly amused, as Puck crossed his arms over his chest, the lovely muscles in them straining.

"No copping a feel Matt. It was one of the rules, remember?" he reminded Matt in a stony voice, scowling down at him.

"Dude," Matt defended, climbing to his feet, "I wasn't touching her. If anything, she was groping me."

"Matt!" Rachel exclaimed with a laugh, hitting him on the arm, before heading inside to use the restroom.

Brittany just took another picture.

Several minutes later as she made her way back outside, Rachel came to a stop at the sound of an angry voice. She didn't want to interrupt, but when she realized that voice belonged to Matt (who she'd _never_ seen angry), she couldn't help but edge into the doorway (okay, so eavesdropping is rude, but she couldn't help it).

"What is your problem?" Matt, who was facing Rachel, asked Puck. "You're acting like a total douche right now."

Puck, his back to Rachel, answered him quietly but furiously. "You ignored the rules of the game."

"What in the hell are you talking about? Since when do you care about rules?" Matt questioned, eyes still on Puck. Neither boy had noticed Rachel's presence yet.

"You're going to keep your fucking hands to yourself," Puck demanded, ignoring the questions, venom practically dripping from his words.

Rachel watched as Matt took an unconscious step back and looked away from Puck. The poor boy looked completely thrown off and more than a little terrified. She couldn't blame him; she felt a hint of that same confusion (and Puck could be pretty scary when he was angry, not that he scared her of course), although she had an idea why Puck was so angry. She wouldn't mind actually hearing the words though. In his efforts to avoid looking at Puck, Matt made eye contact with Rachel. Everything was silent for a few seconds as he studied her and then he apparently made a decision. Something flashed through his eyes, followed closely by a steely glint.

"Dude, is this about Rachel?" he confronted the problem directly.

Puck clammed up.

"You have no claim on her," Matt enlightened the other boy, rather bravely in Rachel's opinion.

Puck's entire body stiffened.

"If you like her, grow some balls and do something about it," Matt continued. "Until you do, she's available to anyone else who wants her. Including me."

With those parting words, he glanced past Puck at Rachel before heading back outside. Puck stood there silently for a few moments before punching the fridge, leaving a small dent (_Mike sure wouldn't be happy about that,_ she thought with a wince) and then following Matt. Rachel hung out in the doorway for a few more moments, absorbing what she'd just witnessed, before going back outside.

Tension was thick in the air and Rachel clearly wasn't the only one who felt it. While Brittany was oblivious, snapping photos of the tiki torches Mike had just lit (the sun had finally gone down) and rambling about pineapple, Mike looked back and forth between Matt and Puck, his brow furrowed. Puck was lounging on the picnic table, drinking his soda and scowling at Matt, who was leaning against the wall next to the door. When Rachel stepped onto the patio, he straightened up and approached her.

"So, Rach, do you want to hang out tomorrow?" He was very direct.

Mike's eyes widened and Brittany stopped talking. They both shot their gazes over to Puck, who was watching Matt and Rachel with narrowed eyes.

This invitation caught Rachel completely off guard. She liked Matt; they were definitely friends, but she wasn't interested in him romantically. Looking back on their interactions, she realized that maybe he did like her in that way though, at least a little; she just hadn't seen it. Still, she was pretty sure he had figured out that she had feelings for Puck back in the kitchen; she had seen the momentary disappointment in his eyes before they'd gotten all determined. She just hadn't known that was what it was. At the very least, he had figured out Puck liked her. _So, what was he doing?_

"I'm sure we could find a fun way to spend some time together, just the two of us," he prodded. His eyes flitted quickly to the side in Puck's direction before coming back to Rachel. And then he winked.

_Oh._ Smiling a genuine smile at the sheer brilliance (and deviousness) of his actions, she accepted.

"I'd love to. Pick me up at 10?"

Brittany and Mike gaped at the two of them. This was clearly not what they expected. Puck shot up from his seat and marched to the edge of the alley. They could just barely see him kick a tree in the dark.

ooooo

"Hey, look what I found!" Brittany yelled, running out of the house.

She skidded to a halt next to the picnic table and dropped her armful of items on it. Rachel wandered over from the cooler after grabbing another soda and looked down.

"Are those fireworks?" she asked, popping the tab on the can.

"Brittany, were you in my closet again?" Mike questioned, taking in the sweatshirt she'd thrown over her T-shirt and the fireworks on the table. The temperature had dropped into the fifties once the sun went down. It was still very early June after all.

"Yeah. I was cold. Oh."

Brittany reached down and pulled a cloth from under the fireworks. She threw it to Rachel, who found herself holding Mike's gray McKinley High hoodie. She shrugged into it gratefully; it was a little chilly.

"Can we play with these?" Brittany requested. "Please."

The boys all nodded enthusiastically, causing Brittany to clap her hands together excitedly.

"Fireworks are illegal to light in Ohio," Rachel informed them all. "We could get in big trouble if someone caught us." She turned to Mike. "You're supposed to take these out of the state within 48 hours of buying them. Well, except for the sparklers; those are okay."

Mike gave her an exasperated look. "The guy across the alley lives alone and works nights, and the next door neighbors left for their yearly Florida trip yesterday. No one will see because no one's home."

"But loud fireworks could wake up your other neighbors further down the block and then what?" Rachel protested.

Puck elbowed her gently in the ribs. "You need to live a little Berry." She still appeared worried, so he sighed. "If we agree to only use the silent ones, will that shut you up?"

Rachel mulled that over. "I suppose that would be acceptable. I won't light any of them though; that way if we get caught I won't have technically done anything wrong," she declared.

"Wow, you guys got Rachel Berry to agree to break the law," an impressed male voice announced from the back door.

They'd been caught. The whole group turned guiltily to the source of the words. Luckily they just found Artie and Tina there.

Brittany bounced to a stop in front of the two. "You guys made it! I was starting to think you wouldn't. You missed dinner," she updated them needlessly, given the time.

"We ate before we left," Tina explained. "Sorry we're so late. It took forever before Artie's parents would let us escape."

"How was the wedding?" the blonde asked.

"Pretty boring as was the reception. We would have much rather been here," Artie stated, "but Dad wouldn't let us leave because it was family."

Rachel was extremely confused when she joined Tina and Brittany. Luckily, Tina noticed and addressed her while Artie rolled over to the boys who were still near the table inspecting the fireworks.

"We had to go to Artie's cousin's wedding, so we weren't sure we'd make it tonight," she looked over at the guys. The banner that was still attached to the wall must have caught her attention because she pointed at it and asked, "Why does that say 'Rachel Berry is hot!!!'?"

"It was Britt's dumb idea of a theme for tonight," Puck said as the guys joined the girls. "Hi, Tina."

"It was not dumb," Brittany pouted. "Come on Rach."

She grabbed Rachel's arm and dragged her to the table, leaving the guys to greet Tina.

"I hope you don't mind that I invited Artie and Tina," she whispered as she fished the sparklers out of the pile. "You looked like you were having fun talking to them last night."

Rachel smiled, taking the sparklers from Brittany so she could search for more. "I was. They're usually pretty nice to me you know. Why didn't you tell me you'd invited them?"

"They didn't know if they could come because of the wedding and in case they didn't show up..." she trailed off and Rachel understood.

Brittany didn't want her to think she'd been rejected again.

She brushed past the hovering words and instead said, "Well, I'm glad they were able to make it."

Tina joined the two of them and all three girls took their sparklers out onto the lawn. The boys, declaring the sparklers lame, hung out on the patio and watched the girls instead.

"The best thing about sparklers," Brittany stated lighting hers, "is the way you can spell things in the air with them."

She proceeded to do just that while Tina and Rachel watched, mesmerized. After she had written the letters, R-A-C-H-E-L-L-O-V-E-S-P, Rachel, finally registering what she was writing, risked burns and stole her sparkler before she could finish. It was too late though, because Tina was gazing at Rachel with a new understanding on her face. She didn't say anything though; she just lit her own sparkler and started drawing in the air with it. Rachel handed over Brittany's with a glower; the blonde smiled unrepentantly back at her. None of them noticed that Mike had taken over Brittany's camera, snapping pictures as the girls played.

The three of them got plenty of enjoyment out of the sparklers (Brittany especially liked to giggle and spell out swear words much to Rachel and Tina's amusement), before the boys declared that it was time to light the fountains that they had determined were silent. Brittany took her camera back from Mike (beaming at him for taking photos despite his earlier grumbling) and Puck pushed Artie over the lawn out to the edge of the alley. They were lighting the fountains in the center of the alley so that the sparks were away from anything that would catch on fire.

The boys had their chance to play with the fireworks as they took turns lighting the fountains. Rachel felt guilty as she watched. They were breaking the law after all, and she had never done that before (_unless you counted speeding-_she didn't), but the guilt was quickly shoved aside each time the pretty colored sparks erupted from the cardboard cones. When it came time to light the final fountain they had picked out (a different type from all the previous ones), Puck decided to do the honors.

"This should be fucking awesome," he pronounced before lighting it and moving quickly away as Brittany snapped a picture of him.

The sparks were gorgeous and Rachel was really enjoying it. Then the whistling started. Surprised, they all clapped their hands over their ears.

"I thought you said it was silent!" Artie shouted over the noise.

"I was wrong!" Mike yelled back in response.

They noticed the lights turn on in the house next to the one across the alley. Fearing the neighbors would call the cops, Matt quickly pushed Artie back over the grass to the house while Mike, Tina, Rachel, and Brittany ran in front of them. Puck stayed behind to grab the fountain once it had finished and dumped it in the large trashcan on the edge of Mike's yard, moving the bag inside so that it was on top of all the fireworks detritus before dashing after them. Mike gathered the fireworks left on the table as the others took refuge inside. As soon as he entered after Puck, he shut and locked the back door and took the fireworks back up to his room. The others headed into the living room and arranged themselves on the furniture (Brittany and Rachel on the couch, Tina in a chair with Artie next to her, and Matt and Puck sprawled on the floor). They found a showing of 'Titanic' on TV (the ship had already broken in half) so that by the time Mike rejoined them and took the open space next to Brittany, it appeared they'd been inside watching TV all along.

There was a knock on the front door as Rose let a frozen Jack sink into the ocean. Mike got up and answered the door to find a cop standing there. When questioned about a noise complaint, he denied it. They had been inside watching a movie, he explained. The cop checked out the room and upon seeing the tears trailing down Tina's cheeks and the way Brittany and Rachel were leaning on each other sobbing, he grimaced and apologized for bothering them. It was one time when the male fear of emotion had worked in their favor. Mike retook his seat and they all rejoiced at getting away with the fireworks. Then the boys promptly began to tease the girls about their crying.

After the movie ended, they switched over to [adult swim] and watched two episodes of Robot Chicken. Rachel had never seen the show before, but she was quite impressed with it. Some of it was a bit disgusting and immature, but for the most part it was clever, biting, and very funny. She thought she might have to view more of it in the future.

After the shows ended, they all decided to head home for the night. In all the confusion of hugging and goodbyes, Noah pulled her into the corner.

"Naomi's having some friends over to use her pool tomorrow afternoon, but she said we could use it after six," he explained quietly in her ear so as to not be overheard (the swimming lessons were still their secret). "I'll pick you up at six."

Unnoticed to both of them, Tina tapped Brittany's arm and gestured to Rachel and Puck. Brittany pulled her camera out of her shorts pocket and snapped a picture of the two of them.

Puck started to walk away, but Rachel stopped him with a hand on his arm (_and there was the heat_).

"Actually, I need to drive myself. I'm staying the night with Britt tomorrow and she'd have a lot of questions if you dropped me off. I've never told her about our swimming lessons," she clarified. "And, I know how to find your aunt's house now."

He was nodding when Matt came over to them. Rachel dropped her hand.

"I'll see you at ten Rach," he said as he pulled her into a hug. The he whispered, "If this doesn't get him off his ass, nothing will."

"Thank you Matt," she whispered back with a smile that only grew when she looked over Matt's shoulder and saw the way Puck's fists were clenched.

She waved at Mike and Artie, hugged Brittany and was surprised when Tina also hugged her goodbye. Thanking her friends for having her over, as a good guest should, she exited the house. As she walked to her car, she wondered what would happen on her 'date' with Matt tomorrow. She also thought she could add two more friends to her list.

A/N 2: The fireworks in the alley thing is what my family used to do. We once set off an illegal firework and the neighbors called the police. The group's mad dash inside was inspired by ours. The cops didn't actually come to our door though; they merely cruised through the alley behind the house. Luckily, my dad had done like Puck and hid the firework debris under the bag in the garbage can.


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot. I also don't own Robot Chicken, Aqua Teen Hunger Force, or the song that appears later on.  
A/N: I would like to thank all of my readers and reviewers once again! This story is at over 11,000 hits; I just can't believe it. This chapter is a bit different from the past ones. There's less dialogue and more action; so I hope it's okay. Please read and review. Thanks!

Rachel was excited. Her life was looking really good right now. She had a BFF (Brittany), two awesome male friends (Mike and Matt), two kind of new, kind of old friends (Tina and Artie), and whatever Noah was (_crush? friend? potential boyfriend?_). She'd never been able to count so many people as truly wanting to be in her life. Brittany and the guys made her laugh and Tina and Artie were really nice. They were also really sweet together; she was so glad they'd worked out their issues and paired off.

She rolled onto her back and looked up at the glow-in-the-dark stars she had stuck to her ceiling when she was ten (her alarm would go off in five minutes and then she'd have to get up and start her day). She was really looking forward to today. She may not have liked Matt as anything more than a friend, but she was excited to spend some more time with him. She couldn't believe it had been just Tuesday that she started speaking with Brittany and the guys. Now it was Friday and she and her friends had made so much progress. Brittany had stood up to Quinn and Santana for her (_don't think she didn't appreciate how huge that was_), Mike had invited her to his house for a 'Rachel-Berry-is-hot' cookout (though that theme was Britt's idea of course) and taught her how to play football without getting angry when she wasn't exactly good at it, Matt was taking her out as part of a make-Puck-jealous plan that he had instigated, and she had nearly kissed Puck twice (and he had kissed her once, even if it was on the forehead).

Still, she felt kind of bad for Matt. She had finally figured out last night that he had a little bit of a crush on her, something that she had never noticed before. She'd been too wrapped up in Puck to notice Matt's feelings. Yet, he was planning to prod Puck into finally claiming her (as he'd put it the night before when he'd confronted Puck; she definitely didn't approve of the idea of men claiming women) on her behalf. Just so that she and Puck could get what they wanted and be together. He was such a genuinely nice guy, something that was very rare, especially in teenagers. Part of her really wished she returned his feelings; it would be so much easier than this weird dance she and Noah were doing. The largest part of her just wanted to find some way to pay back Matt for everything he was doing for her despite the cost to himself.

When her alarm went off, she got up and climbed onto her elliptical. Normally exercise cleared her thoughts, but that didn't work today. She couldn't shake the feeling that she was using Matt, even if it was with his permission. She was sure if she thought hard enough, she could come up with something she could do for him in exchange. She figured this wasn't a case where her 'I'm sorry' cookies would work, not even if modified to 'Thank you' cookies. Of course, it wouldn't be an issue if there was someone else he liked more than her. Why did she feel like there was something she'd overlooked?

She was still trying to put her finger on whatever she was missing as she showered and got dressed in a pair of new shorts (a red rose on the back pocket this time) and one of her new spaghetti strap tank tops (brown with gold trim). It was right there on the tip of her tongue, so to speak. It was going to drive her nuts if she didn't figure it out.

She had just picked out a strawberry cereal bar for breakfast when her phone rang. The caller ID showed that it was Brittany. Rachel had expected that; she was sure she was about to get the third degree on why she was going out with Matt when she clearly liked Puck.

"Hi Brittany," she answered the phone.

"What do you think you're doing?" the other girl demanded.

_Wow, she had skipped her customary greeting so this must be serious_.

"What do you mean Brittany?" she asked, although she knew full well what the girl was asking about.

"You are ruining everything!" Brittany yelled over the phone in distress. "You like Puck, so why are you going out with Matt? He likes you, you know. I don't want you to hurt him."

"Brittany, it's okay. I'm not going to hurt him," Rachel soothed.

"But he likes you. Likes you likes you, as in as more than a friend," the blonde stressed.

Rachel sighed. "I know. I discovered that last night when he asked me out." Brittany made a noise on the other end of the line, so Rachel cut her off before she could start in on her. "Matt knows I like Puck and he knows that Puck likes me. He figured it out before he asked me out."

There was silence as Brittany took in those words. Finally she asked, "Then why did he ask you out?"

So, Rachel explained about the scene in the kitchen between Matt and Puck that she had witnessed the previous night. She also told her about Matt's wink when he asked her out and their hug (and what he'd said) before she left. When she finished her story, Brittany was once again quiet.

"So, Matt is helping you make Puck jealous in the hope that he'll finally make a move on you?" she summarized.

"Exactly," Rachel confirmed, relieved that Brittany understood. "We're really only going out today as friends, but Puck definitely doesn't need to know that. It would defeat the point of our ploy. So, please don't tell him."

A tapping sounded over the phone as if Brittany was drumming her nails on a hard surface. "I can do better than that. I think I'll give Puck a call; after all, I should be really excited about the fact that two of my best friends are going on a date. And who better to share that excitement with than another one of my best friends?"

"Brittany, I don't think..." Rachel started.

"And when he hears about the wonderful chemistry the two of you have, it'll drive him mad. He won't have a choice but to do something about it if he doesn't want to lose his chance with you," she continued speaking as if Rachel hadn't said anything.

"Really, Britt, I don't think this is such..." Rachel pleaded.

"Yep. That's what I'm gonna do," the blonde continued to ignore Rachel. "Have fun with Matt, Rach. I have a phone call to make!"

The line went dead in Rachel's ear before she could get a word in edgewise. She tried calling Brittany back several times, but the sneaky blonde clearly didn't want to hear her protests because she didn't answer her phone once, nor did she return Rachel's calls. At five 'til ten, Rachel knew she wasn't going to get a hold of Brittany, so she slipped on her sandals and sat down on the couch to await Matt's arrival. She really hoped Brittany's actions didn't blow up in her face (and by this she meant her own; _she just knew she'd suffer the aftereffects of whatever Brittany did_).

ooooo

When Matt picked her up, he told her he was taking her to the mini-golf course. She had only been to the course once in the past-with her fathers for her eighth birthday. She had been horrible at it; the obstacles utterly defeated her. She had really enjoyed it though, even if she was frustrated. Dad and Daddy had taken her mind off the fact that she wasn't very good. She was kind of excited to try it again, with a friend this time.

Despite her protests, Matt paid her fee for their round on the course. He picked out a neon green golf ball and one of the taller clubs. Rachel chose a neon pink (all the colors were a form of neon) ball and Matt helped her choose a club of the appropriate height (considerably shorter than his club). Once they had all the necessary equipment, they headed to the first hole.

Turns out? Hanging out with Matt is almost as fun as hanging out with Brittany. He didn't seem to care that she was still just as bad at this as she had been when she was eight. He had a really good sense of humor. Even though she quickly got frustrated with her bad playing (she was a natural winner after all), his calm manner and relaxed jokes kept that frustration from becoming anger. Matt was really good, much better than her at least, so he tried to give her some pointers. Their progress was slow because of the number of strokes it took her to sink each ball into the hole, so several times they had to step aside and let other people, mostly other teens, pass them by. Eventually they made it to the eighteenth hole. Matt's score was 28 and two holes in one; Rachel's score stood at 56 and, unsurprisingly, no holes in one.

"Hey, anyone who gets a hole in one on this hole gets a free game," Rachel read off the sign next to the start of the green, before saying decisively, "I want that."

"Then let's see what we can do to get it for you," he stated.

He went first. It took him two strokes, bringing his final score to 30, which he said was fairly respectable (Rachel just had to trust him on that). Then it was Rachel's turn. She set her ball on one of the starting indentations of the green. As she placed the club behind her pink ball, she looked over at the hole to get a gauge on where she needed to aim. Matt moved over to her and physically corrected her stance to give her the best chance of getting a hole in one. Once he moved back, she swung like he'd instructed her to. She watched as the ball rolled up the incline and, much to her surprise, fell into the hole where it would travel back to the shack where they paid for their game.

"I got a hole in one!" she yelled excitedly.

Jumping up and down, she flung her arms around his waist and kissed him on the cheek. When she realized what she had done, she stepped away from him. She really hoped he wouldn't take it the wrong way. She'd merely been celebrating her first ever hole in one. She met his eyes and saw the slight sadness in them; she knew he hadn't misread her actions. She still felt awful that she had so carelessly caused that expression; she never wanted to hurt him. They turned in their clubs and she got her voucher for her free game as he made forced smalltalk in an attempt to keep the mood light. As they climbed into his SUV, that feeling that she'd forgotten something hit her full force again.

They were quiet as he drove to the little diner on the square for lunch. She was terrified that she had just ruined a perfectly fun day out by kissing him on the cheek. She hoped it hadn't really affected him, but she kept thinking about how Puck had kissed her on the forehead and she'd felt it for ages. If only she could figure out what was bothering her; it seemed like it was really important to their current situation.

When they'd taken a seat at one of the tables, the waitress handed them menus. As she perused the choices, Rachel decided to break the silence that had settled between them because of her stupid, impulsive action. She placed her menu on the table, crossed her arms over the top of it, and leaned across the table toward Matt.

"I think we need to talk about this," she said.

Matt shook his head. "I'm good."

"Look, it's clear that you have some feelings for me, not to sound conceited or anything, but I don't want to hurt you and I don't want to ruin our friendship. So, we need to clear the air so we can continue to spend time without it going all awkward like it did at the golf course," Rachel explained.

Matt sighed, obviously accepting that she wasn't just going to let this go. "Okay, Rach. I'd just like to go on record as saying that talking about my feelings is not a manly thing to do. Yes, I have feelings for you. They just kind of popped up; they weren't there before Tuesday. Before, I'd barely even noticed you as anything but a loud, pushy, annoying girl with a good voice. But, you were just so relaxed at the mall, and so much fun. Also, you're pretty."

Rachel blushed. She wasn't expecting Matt to be so blunt about everything, but she had pushed him (he was right-_she was pushy_).

He persisted, "Despite the attraction, I don't know that I even really like you as more than a friend. I might have just overreacted to seeing a side of you I never expected. Plus, you're best friends with Brittany who's dating my best friend. You and I together just makes sense. One pair of best friends dating another pair of best friends; it'd be easy." He fell silent.

Rachel considered his words. His thoughts weren't actually so far off from her own, minus the attraction. Hadn't she been thinking just that morning how much easier it would be if she felt for Matt what she felt for Puck instead? Still...

"What's easiest, isn't always what's right," she pointed out softly. "Things would be so much easier if I had fallen for you instead of Noah, but that's not how it happened. You're such a nice guy and he's such a...such a..." she struggled for the right word.

"Giant douche?" Matt finished for her with a laugh.

She snickered, "Yeah, that's a good description. But, there's also this really sweet side to him. I know he rarely shows it, but I've seen it a few times. And sometimes when he's acting like a...jerk," she didn't want to say the word he'd used, "it's just a show because he doesn't want to appear vulnerable."

"I know. I've been friends with the guy since junior high. I remember how he was before his dad took off," Matt told her.

The waitress came back to their table with their drinks and to take their orders. Matt picked a cheeseburger and fries. Having not looked at the menu, except for her very brief scan when they first sat down, she ordered the same. After a few minutes of silence, Matt met her eyes.

"You're too good for him you know," he claimed seriously.

Rachel blushed again. He was really embarrassing her, saying things like that so earnestly.

"You're also just what he needs," he continued. "The only time I've ever seen him act like he does with you was around Quinn when she was pregnant, but I'm pretty sure that was just because of the baby. Otherwise, they would have lasted longer after the adoption. It's good that he has someone to actually care about again."

They were quiet as the waitress delivered their food and they started to eat.

"He'd kick my ass if he knew I'd said any of this, you know that right?" Matt asked as he polished off half of his burger.

"Yeah, his anger and impulse control isn't the best," Rachel agreed. "I mean, honestly, wanting to beat up Kurt for what he said."

"That really pissed him off. It took both Mike and I showing up at his house that night to stop him from going after Kurt. He's still pissed at us for it."

Rachel just rolled her eyes. "Really! I hope he paid attention when I told him that I don't approve of violence last night."

Matt shrugged as he swallowed a fry. "If anyone could stop him, it's you." He shook his head. "I can't believe it took me so long to catch onto him. He's not exactly been subtle about it."

Rachel had to laugh at that. "You sound just like Brittany! She told me he was obvious about it while we were shopping for our swimsuits at the mall on Tuesday, before we even ran into you guys. I didn't believe her at the time, but I caught on when he crashed our trip to the movies. I think I was in denial about it until I saw you two in the kitchen last night though. It was kind of hard to ignore after he basically told you to back off."

"Yeah, that was what clued me in," Matt agreed, "although I think Mike already knew. Anyway, I've had about all I can take of this feelings crap. What did you think of Robot Chicken? You hadn't seen it before last night, right?"

They passed most of the rest of the meal discussing the myriad of shows on [adult swim]. Matt was hilarious as he recreated some of his favorite moments. He had Rachel laughing so hard that tears were rolling down her cheeks. It was in the middle of his description of an Aqua Teen Hunger Force episode, while they finished the ice cream they'd ordered for dessert, that the thing that had been niggling at her all day finally hit her with the force of a freight train.

"Did you ever talk to that girl you liked?" she blurted out.

Matt dropped his arms from a spirited demonstration of the scene he was describing. "What?"

"At the mall on Tuesday, you guys were there because you had a thing for the piercer at one of the jewelry stores, right? Did you ever talk to her?" Rachel clarified.

"No, I got distracted," he answered, casting her a significant glance.

"Oh," Rachel blushed. "Why hadn't you ever talked to her?"

It was Matt's turn to blush. "She's hot; we're talking model hot here. Plus she's a year older than me; she graduated this year; and she doesn't know who I am. I'd seen her around school and then I spotted her working one day when I was looking for a birthday present for my little sister. I've just never had a reason to talk to her."

"It sounds to me like you do have a reason to talk to her; you clearly like her. You're a wonderful guy. I'm sure she'd love the chance to get to know you. And, believe me, girls like a guy who's bold enough to make the first move. It avoids situations like what I've got with Noah. Just don't mention that you've been dropping by the mall to watch her unless she asks why she's seen you around so much. And even then, you might want to make up a different excuse before you talk to her in case she does ask, because stalking? Not a turn-on. Hey, do you know her name?"

Matt appeared dazed by her long speech. _That's right, he's never been on the receiving end of one aimed specifically at him before, _she realized.

"Yeah, according to the yearbook, her name is Daniella Levy."

"That name sounds really familiar. What does she look like?" Rachel frowned as she tried to figure out why she thought she knew this girl.

Matt got a far-off expression on his face and smiled, "She's got long red hair, green eyes, and a beautiful smile."

_Red hair? Green eyes?_ Rachel knew she knew that name!

"I go to temple with her! I actually kind of know her; I mean, not really well or anything, but well enough that I could probably introduce the two of you sometime. If you'd like, of course." Rachel was excited. If she could get Matt together with Daniella, she wouldn't have to feel bad about not being interested in him herself (besides, with the look on his face right now, he clearly preferred Daniella over her). And, best yet, Daniella was a really nice person. She'd probably truly appreciate Matt's sweet personality.

"That'd be good." Matt frowned. "I wonder why Puck never mentioned she went to his temple."

"Because Noah never comes to temple; only his mom and sister do," Rachel stated, waving her hand through the air in annoyance at the absent boy.

They made plans to go to the mall directly after lunch so Rachel could introduce Matt to Daniella if she was working.

"I have the whole first season of Robot Chicken on DVD if you want to go back to my house after the mall," Matt offered as they climbed into his SUV.

"I'd like that." Rachel smiled at him. She had a feeling their friendship would be okay.

ooooo

The visit to the mall went really well. Daniella had been at work, and when Rachel had entered the store with Matt, the red head had recognized her from temple. She had immediately pulled Rachel aside because turns out? Daniella had liked Matt for quite a while; she was just intimidated by him because he was on the football team. She grilled Rachel on whether she was dating Matt and when she found out that he and Rachel were just friends, Daniella had demanded an introduction. Rachel had been only too happy to comply (that was why they were there after all). After she had introduced them, causing both to blush (_it was so cute!_), she had wandered the empty store to give them time to talk. She tried to subtly watch them as she pretended to look at the different necklaces. They were clearly nervous around each other, but eventually they both relaxed. Ten minutes later, Daniella needed to help a customer, but not before Matt asked her out. She told him she got off at seven if he wanted to meet her back at the store. He agreed, and Rachel let out a loud cheer (Brittany must be rubbing off on her) that had them both looking at her as she took her turn to blush. All in all, it was a great success that had landed Matt a date with his dream girl.

When Rachel and Matt had gone to Matt's house to watch Robot Chicken together, Matt was the happiest she'd ever seen him which made Rachel ecstatic. The sketches on the show were funnier just because Matt was so thrilled with how his introduction to Daniella had gone. Shortly after three, he pulled up to the curb across the street from Rachel's house.

"Oh, no," Rachel muttered, the color draining from her face as she spotted the red truck sitting directly in front of her house.

Matt turned to see what had caused that kind of reaction in her. When he saw the truck, he let out a laugh. "Looks like Puck's been waiting on you."

Rachel buried her face in her hands and explained. "Brittany told me she was going to call him this morning to tell him about how good you and I are together and how we have such obvious chemistry." She looked up at Matt. "I just knew it was going to backfire on me, but she wouldn't listen to a word I said."

Matt unbuckled his seat belt, leaned over, and pulled her into a tight hug. "You need to go face him. Maybe he's angry enough that he'll finally man up."

Rachel returned his hug and dropped a kiss on his cheek (without worrying that he'd take it the wrong way-thank God for Daniella).

"Hopefully you're right." She unbuckled her own seat belt and pushed the door open. "Thank you for the golf and lunch. Oh, and of course for your help today. Good luck tonight with Daniella," she added in a teasing tone.

He blushed slightly again. "Yeah. Thanks for introducing us."

She grinned. "I was happy to."

After she had crossed the street she turned around to watch him drive off. When he waved, she waved back. She was really happy with where their friendship stood right now. Turning around, she spotted Puck scowling at her from her front porch. _Wow, he looks furious_. Sighing deeply, she moved forward to meet her doom (_she was going to kill Brittany for this_).

Noah crossed his arms over his chest as she climbed the stairs. "Did you fuck him?"

Rachel paused on the top step. "I'm sorry?" she asked incredulously, climbing onto the porch.

"Did you fuck him?" he repeated. "Because there's no other reason you could've been out with him for five hours."

She couldn't believe this. He was acting like such a...such a...such an _ass_! Normally she didn't curse, but that was the only word strong enough to describe his current behavior. She mimicked his stance and crossed her arms over her own chest.

"Of course I had sex with him," she stated sarcastically. "I have sex with every guy who shows interest in me."

She stepped forward so she was right in front of him and poked him in the chest above his arms.

"Just because you can't spend more than a couple of hours at a time with a girl with your clothes on doesn't mean other guys have the same problem. Some guys, like Matt, have depth to them. Some guys, like Matt, can be interested in spending time with a girl without wanting sex."

She poked him with the end of each sentence. She was just so angry at him; how could she possibly want to be with him? _What was she thinking?_

He uncrossed his arms and caught her wrist so she couldn't continue to prod him.

"Believe me Berry, a guy doesn't spend time with someone as hot as you without thinking about sex. You have the kind of legs that are made to wrap around a guy's waist," he said in a low voice, drawing her closer with the wrist he had captured. "Matt wants you for more than just a friend," he lowered his head to speak in her ear. "and I'll be damned if I stand by and let him use you."

_Oh, my, God_. Realization nearly blinded her as he let go and stepped back. He was irate because he thought Matt was using her? And he wanted to protect her? She didn't even think; she just acted. Moving forward, she wrapped her hand around the back of his neck and pulled his lips down to meet hers.

She had clearly stunned him with her move because he held himself still for several moments. And then he gave into the heat between them. She had thought she'd been kissed before (and by him at that), but oh, had she been wrong. His lips were so soft yet firm. And the way they moved against hers set her blood on fire. When his tongue swiped against her lips demanding entrance, she opened them on a gasp. He took advantage and slid his silky tongue into her mouth against hers. He slid his hands down her back to her rear and lifted her; she wrapped her legs around his waist automatically and fisted one hand in his mohawk while the other curled over his shoulder.

_He tastes so good_, she thought as her eyes drifted shut. He tasted like a combination of cinnamon and mint. She thought the taste might surpass strawberry as her very favorite. She was so lost in his taste that she didn't realize he had backed up to the porch swing until he moved her legs and dropped to sit in it. She adjusted so that she was straddling him without breaking their kiss. Taking advantage of the new position, he buried a hand in her hair and slanted his lips to have better access to her mouth. His other hand, resting on her hip, was rubbing a line along her bare skin just above her shorts. Every movement of his thumb caused heat to pool between her legs. Unconsciously, she whimpered and ground herself against the hardness that had sprung up below her.

He tore his mouth away from hers with a groan at the friction. While she caught her breath from the intensity between them, he dotted kisses down her neck to one of her bare shoulders.

"Do you know how fucking bad I wanted to do this last night?" he asked in a husky voice between kisses to her shoulder. He moved to the other one. "These shirts should be fuckin' illegal," he added as he rained kisses on that shoulder.

"You are so stupid," she panted out, "to think I'd want this with anyone else. I've been waiting on you to make a move practically all week," she moaned as he nibbled lightly on her collarbone. "Matt was just helping me push you into doing something about it."

"Rachel?" he raised his head. When she met his eyes (oh, those intense hazel eyes were _so_ green right now), he added, "Shut the fuck up" before crashing his lips to hers again.

And that is how Rachel spent an hour making out with Noah (_finally!_) on her front porch.

ooooo

An hour later, she was in her bedroom. She'd been amazed at her appearance when she'd come inside after sending Noah off to pick his sister up from her friend's house. Her lips were all red and swollen, her hair looked like she'd just gotten out of bed, and her clothes were slightly wrinkled (she'd let him touch her breasts this time, over the shirt of course). The biggest change, however, was in her eyes. She normally considered her eyes a very average, kind of bland brown. She felt they were one of her less impressive features. But, looking at them in the mirror after Noah had left, she had thought they were actually kind of beautiful. They sparkled brightly and just looked really happy. All in all, it was amazing the effect an hour of making out with Noah had on her. She even felt more confident and relaxed (though she expected she would panic later about what this meant for their new friendship).

She used this surplus of confidence to make a slightly riskier choice for the day's MySpace video. She hadn't recorded one earlier-she'd been too busy trying to get a hold of Brittany before she did something stupid (_she'd have to thank her later_, she noted)-so she decided to post one this afternoon while she had some free time before her swim lesson (her lips tingled just thinking about it). She looked through her music for the ideal choice to express how she was feeling (how Puck made her feel), which was thoroughly turned on. She grinned when she came across the right song-it was a little older, released in 2001-but it was perfect.

Oh, I, I, I  
I wanna be bad with you baby  
I, I, I, I  
I wanna be bad with you baby

Do you, understand what I need, need (from you)  
Just let me be the girl to show you (you)  
Everything that she can be is everything that I can be  
I wanna be  
My turn  
Let me let you know that I can (I can)  
Promise that I won't do that  
So boy, say the time and place cuz you make me wanna misbehave

I wanna be bad  
You make bad look so good  
I got things on my mind  
I never thought I would  
I, I wanna be bad (bad)  
You make bad feel so good  
I'm losing all my cool  
I'm about to break the rules  
I, I wanna be bad

I wanna be bad with you baby  
I, I, I, I, I wanna be bad with you baby

What's up?  
Tell me what to do, how to be, teach me  
All you your rules from A to Z,  
But I, I don't wantcha other girls to see  
That you're messin' round with me

Should I boy  
Tell me what I got is what ya want  
Tell Tell me do I, I turn you on  
I don't want no one judging me

I wanna be bad  
You make bad look so good  
I got things on my mind  
I never thought I would  
I, I wanna be bad (bad)  
You make bad feel so good  
I'm losing all my cool  
I'm about to break the rules  
I, I wanna be bad

She had pulled out her sexiest moves for this video, and she ended the song by winking at the camera. It may not have been her typical MySpace video, but if Puck saw this, he'd know it was inspired by him. After uploading the video, she sat down at her vanity to braid her hair for her swim lesson. Once she was done, she refreshed her MySpace page and saw that she'd already gotten a couple of comments. There was an insult from Santana (what did she do? stalk Rachel's MySpace just to insult her?), the normal filth from Jacob Ben-Israel (she knew he stalked her MySpace), and a compliment from Tina ('Awesome, just awesome'). There at the bottom of the page, though, was what she was looking for. BAMFPlaya69 had left a comment-'Your lessons start tonight.' It was simple and surprisingly not lewd, but it sent (very good) chills down her spine all the same.

When the doorbell rang, she was pulled from her increasingly impure thoughts. She smiled. Maybe Puck hadn't been able to wait until tonight and had come back by. Running down the stairs, she flung open the door with a bright smile.

"I just knew you couldn't resist...Finn?"

A/N 2: The song used was 'I Wanna Be Bad' by Willa Ford. Sorry for anyone who doesn't like to read song lyrics, but I just had to include them because the song is entirely too perfect to describe the feelings Puck inspires in Rachel.


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot.

A/N: I'd like to thank everyone who's reading this, and especially those of you who have reviewed. I'd especially like to thank everyone who gave me feedback on last chapter's kiss. I'd never written one before, so it was nice to learn it turned out well. I don't have much to say; just that you're about to get a history lesson in the time missing between Sectionals and the start of this story. Also, please don't hate me after you read this. Please read & review. Thanks!

Rachel was confused. And maybe a little annoyed. What was Finn doing at her door? She had been excited over the thought that Noah had come back to pick up where they'd left off earlier this afternoon. But instead of being greeted with the sight of her-what washe anyway? boyfriend? friend with benefits? _it wasn't important right now_, she guessed-whatever Noah was, she was met with her ex-boyfriend. An ex-boyfriend who was currently staring longingly at her as if they'd suddenly transported two months back in time before they ruined their relationship by having sex.

What was that look for? They weren't dating; yesterday was the very first time they'd ever even spoken since their breakup. And even before the disaster that was her first time, their relationship was on the downslide; she could see that now. As she stood there, with Finn in front of her, she was reminded of when they'd first began dating.

After babygate had broken, Finn hadn't come running straight to Rachel the way that she was expecting. He had clearly been interested in her since he joined glee; they'd even kissed twice. So, to say she was surprised that he hadn't immediately declared his undying love for her once Quinn was no longer in the picture was an understatement. They were the two leads-they were meant to be together. But, he had simply wanted everyone to leave him alone.

To make matters worse, everyone in glee club had taken to pretending she didn't exist. No one spoke to her unless forced to, with the exceptions of Quinn, Santana, and Brittany, who continued to regularly insult her (though she now knows Brittany thought they were just talking to her) and Puck. He had just as hard a time with the other members of glee club, who blamed him for the scandal, just as they blamed Rachel for breaking it. It was during this period of time that the watching and the inappropriate comments began. She wondered if that had been his way of reaching out to her, even back then. Surprisingly, nobody but Finn blamed Quinn for what had happened, despite the fact that she was the one dating Finn at the time, trying to pass Noah's baby off as his, and refusing to let Noah take responsibility like he wanted. Rachel had never understood how she was held more responsible for the whole mess than the cheating girl.

All in all, the initial post-babygate month had been positively miserable.

One evening in the middle of January, she was in her room recording a MySpace video when the doorbell had rang. She had answered it since Daddy was making dinner and Dad was still at work. When she had swung the door open to find Finn on the front porch, she had thought her heart would leap out of her chest. He was really here. She had invited him in and, after introducing him to Daddy, they had gone up to her room. As soon as the door was shut, he had kissed her and told her he was stupid not to have come for her sooner. He then kissed her again which had turned into a passionate makeout session that had ended shortly when his little problem reared its head. She had been confused until he had turned red and explained what had happened. She then figured out that this was why he had run out of the auditorium after their first kiss. She made it her goal to help him learn restraint (all the kissing was just icing) and he asked her out on a real date.

When she'd walked into school after that first (dreamy) date wearing his letter jacket, she'd caught Puck watching her again. He didn't smirk at her this time though, merely raised an eyebrow and walked the other way. The very next day, she heard the rumors that he and Quinn were dating. It seemed kind of sudden because they had barely even been on speaking terms the previous week. Now, she couldn't help but wonder if perhaps he had been responding to seeing her in a jacket with the number 5 on it. Could it be possible that even back then he'd liked her? She might never know. All she knew was he stopped watching her that day and the comments disappeared.

The following two months had been wonderful. She may not have had friends, but she finally had Finn and he was the perfect boyfriend. He walked her to class and carried her books for her. He picked her up for school (when he remembered), he let her choose what they did on every date, and he watched her musicals with her. And of course, there was the kissing. It was just as nice as it had been those first two times, only better because he was no longer with Quinn. He was all hers and she didn't have to share or feel guilty.

Puck's relationship with Quinn seemed a bit rocky to her. They were constantly overheard arguing about the baby. She still wanted to place the baby for adoption, but he wanted to keep it. Everyone knew Noah's father had ditched his family just a couple of years before, so Rachel figured he didn't want his daughter to think he had ditched her. While Rachel believed that adoption was the right choice in this case, but for once, she never offered her opinion on the matter. With the way the two fought though, she wasn't surprised when they split up just a week after the baby was born and given to her adoptive family in mid March. That was when Puck began watching Rachel again, though he still made no comments.

Of course, their relationship was a mere blip on her radar. She was entirely too enthralled with Finn to really register much outside of their bubble. In fact, she was so wrapped up in how utterly perfect her life was that she didn't notice when he began to check out of the relationship. He stopped picking her up for school, but he was so inconsistent with that to begin with that she wasn't aware of the change. He rarely walked her to class anymore and when he did, he didn't carry her books. It wasn't until he began canceling their plans that she realized their relationship might not be as perfect as she thought it was.

So, she had made the same mistake that millions of women before her had made. She decided to have sex with her boyfriend in hopes that it would fix what was wrong between them. Of course, the whole encounter was a catastrophe. They were both virgins, so she knew it wouldn't be perfect. She thought it would at least be decent though; something they enjoyed enough to repeat until it got good. But no, Finn was too excited to get right to the main event, so she wasn't ready. It was really painful and awkward and made even worse when he 'arrived' early (_seriously, two seconds!_-she still couldn't get her head around it even two months later). Then the crying, oh the crying. As if things weren't bad enough already, he had to cry like a baby. She was in a lot of physical pain (_really, she wasn't even close to ready_), and even she wasn't crying. As she floundered to figure out how to deal with his tears, she felt like the man in the relationship. And she much preferred feeling like the girl, so she really just wanted to tell him to man up. She finally just hugged him and told him it would get better (though she wasn't sure she wanted to try again).

He had gone home shortly after, and when they had seen each other in school the next day, things between them were worse than ever. He started turning red anytime she was in the same room, and he couldn't even look at her. She knew their relationship was over; they had broken up the very next day, just two days after their first time together and one week after Puck and Quinn. She was sad, but she wasn't devastated like she expected to be.

The day after she broke up with Finn, Noah started making inappropriate comments again, bringing their relationship to the state it was in on Tuesday when he offered to teach her to swim.

Looking back on the end of her relationship with Finn, she figured out that it wasn't only Finn who had checked out. She was still putting in the effort in their relationship, but her heart wasn't in it anymore, she realized now. She had started to want someone who would take charge on their dates instead of always just doing what she wanted. She wanted someone who wouldn't just let her force musicals on him if that wasn't what he wanted and who would follow through on his promises. She needed someone who could make her laugh; Finn was sweet, but he was too clueless most of the time to understand her sense of humor; she needed someone with a sharp wit. And, she knew now that she needed the sort of passion that burned her up from the inside-out.

In short, she wanted and needed Noah.

Which brought her to her earlier question: What was Finn doing at her door?

"Finn, what are you doing here?" she asked curiously.

"Can I come in Rachel? I don't want to go into it out here," he said, casting an anxious look around him.

Despite her better judgment, Rachel stood aside and let him into the foyer. Once he was inside, she shut the door and led Finn into the living room. After he had sat down on the couch, she took a seat in her Daddy's favorite recliner.

"So why are you here?" she asked again, sitting on the edge of the recliner and crossing her legs primly, her hands folded on top of her knees.

Finn fidgeted nervously for a moment before blurting out, "I think we should get back together."

Rachel was floored. Whatever she was expecting, it certainly wasn't that. "What?"

Turning red, Finn grinned shyly at her and explained, "I haven't been able to stop thinking about you since I talked to you yesterday."

Rachel shook her head. She hadn't exactly been happy with him yesterday; had he not caught onto that? She opened her mouth to shut him down, but he just kept talking.

"You were so relaxed and confident with Brittany. It was like you were a whole new Rachel, and I really liked that," he finished.

Rachel idly wondered if he realized how very _not_ flattering that was. She had seemed like a whole new person, so he wanted her? Was she not good enough for him just the way she was?

_Did it really matter either way?_

Not really, she realized. She had Noah; she may not love him yet, but she could see it happening in the future-the basis for the feelings were there. And, even without Noah, she just didn't want Finn anymore.

"Finn, you're a nice guy, but I'm not interested in you that way anymore," she stated. "I'd like to remain friends though."

The tall boy frowned, "Is this because of Puck? Is there something going on between the two of you? Because you can't trust him you know; he'll only ever want one thing from you."

Rachel sighed because she knew that wasn't true. If there was one thing that Puck's reluctance to make the first move had taught her, it was that he wanted more than just sex from her. Her earlier annoyance with her ex-boyfriend came rushing back and she stood up.

"I think it's time for you to leave Finn," she announced calmly.

Not giving him a chance to argue, she left the room. She knew he'd follow her; he always did.

"Look, Rachel, is this about the sex? If that's why you like Puck, I could give that to you, only better because I actually like you. I figured out what went wrong our first time," the boy declared. "I thought about Quinn instead of you and it made me lose control. If you gave me another chance, I'd think about you and I'm sure I'd last longer," Finn avowed earnestly.

Rachel didn't know what was worse: the fact that the boy she'd lost her virginity to, who she thought she was in love with, was telling her that he was thinking about his ex-girlfriend the whole time; the fact that he was essentially admitting that he was more attracted to said ex-girlfriend more than her; or the fact that he honestly had no idea how painful his words were for her to hear. _He truly was clueless_.

Ignoring the pain he had caused her (he had basically just told her that her first time was a giant lie), she gave him her cheeriest, falsest smile and said, "Really, Finn, I want nothing more than your friendship. Now, I have plans for this evening that I need to prepare for, so I have to say goodbye."

Finn, unaware anything was wrong, beamed brightly at her. "Okay Rachel. I'll see you at the water park tomorrow!"

He jogged down the porch stairs to his car in the driveway. As he hopped in, he gave her another cheery smile.

Rachel closed the front door and leaned back against it. She felt completely drained and a little angry. Her first time should have been hers and Finn's alone, no matter how horrible it was and what it had done to their relationship. But no, Quinn apparently got that too. At least that's how Rachel saw it since Finn had been thinking of Quinn and not her while they were having sex. Quinn had also dated both Finn and Puck first; Rachel wondered if she'd ever get to have something that Quinn didn't have first or still hold a claim on. Finn's first time should have been Rachel's but since she now knew he was with Quinn, if only in his own mind at the time, she didn't even have that. Even Rachel's friends were Quinn's first.

She closed her eyes tightly and tried to banish the image of the perfect blonde head Cheerio (she had regained her position after the baby's birth) from her mind. Quinn may have been friends with Brittany first, but Brittany had refused to give up Rachel's friendship for her. Quinn may have slept with and dated Noah first, but their relationship wasn't exactly ideal and he was with Rachel now. Maybe. Well, she wasn't really sure because they had never actually defined their relationship today, just kissed a lot. She was fairly sure he wasn't thinking of Quinn at the time though. A little traitorous voice in her head whispered to her, _but you thought Finn wasn't either_.

She was grateful when her phone began to ring. She saw that it was Brittany; sliding it open, she answered tiredly.

"Hi, Britt."

"Rachel? Is that you?"

Her customary greeting was back, so she must not be stressed.

"Yeah, it's me," she gave her normal answer.

"Okay," Brittany's voice was perky as she said, "Tina's staying over tonight with us too. Is that okay?"

"That's fine," Rachel agreed quietly. Her self-doubt wouldn't go away.

Brittany was quiet for several moments before she asked, "Rach? Are you okay?"

Rachel nodded, realized that Brittany couldn't see her nod, and instead answered her with, "I'm fine. It's just been a long day. Um, Britt, I have something I need to do before I come over so I need to go. I'll see you tonight though, okay?"

Brittany's tone was more sober than usual when she said goodbye, and as Rachel hung up, she knew she hadn't fooled her best friend.

ooooo

When Rachel pulled to a stop behind Noah's truck in the driveway of his aunt's house, she was still feeling down. She had been having such a good day, but Finn had ruined it and he didn't even realize what he had done. Still, she was going to see Puck shortly for her final swim lesson, so she couldn't help but perk up a little as she rounded the side of the house. She climbed the stairs of the deck to see that Puck was already in the pool. His aunt Naomi was laid out on one of the lounge chairs; she noticed Rachel first.

"Hello, Rachel," she greeted. "How are you today? It's your final lesson, right?"

Two things registered with Rachel. The first was a searing embarrassment at how rude she had been to this woman yesterday, and yet here Naomi was being perfectly nice to her. The second was that Naomi had calledher Rachel, but she was pretty sure Noah had introduced her as Berry yesterday. _Did he talk to his aunt about her?_

"I'm okay. I'm so excited that I've made as much progress as I have," she answered.

"No one will ever know she didn't know how to swim," Noah said, pulling himself out of the pool. "Hey, Berry. Get out of your clothes," he smirked at her, "and into the pool so we can get this final lesson over."

His eyes were smoldering, and she knew what he had planned for after her lesson. She was suddenly anxious to finish the swimming portion of this visit and move on to the post-lesson fun.

As she took off her shirt and shorts to reveal her green one piece, she turned to Naomi.

"I'm so sorry I was rude to you yesterday. I thought..." she trailed off. She didn't want to get Noah in trouble with his family.

"You thought I was one of Puck's cougars?" Naomi surprised Rachel by asking. She must have noticed, because she continued, "Word gets around among us cougars. I know about my nephew's nefarious activities. Though he's been conspicuously absent among the cougar population recently," she added innocuously. "Well, I'll head inside and give you two some privacy for your lesson. It was nice seeing you again Rachel. If you kids get thirsty, get something from the fridge. I trust you not to drink and drive if you choose something alcoholic." Rachel was vaguely scandalized by that suggestion (though after what Finn had told her, she thought alcohol sounded pretty good).

As Naomi headed inside, Noah moved over to Rachel and dropped a quick kiss on her lips. Then he pushed her into the pool.

Rachel resurfaced, sputtering, and began treading water. "Noah! You said you wouldn't do that again."

He smirked at her from the deck. "No, I said I wouldn't do that unless you hesitated to get in. I ordered you into the pool several minutes ago."

"I was talking to your aunt!" she protested.

"Not my problem Berry," he declared, jumping into the pool and swimming over to her. "Clearly you're not having trouble treading water, so go ahead and doggy paddle for me."

She passed the first hour or so of the lesson demonstrating what he had taught her. He then spent another thirty minutes teaching her how to relax her body so that she could float on her back. He was merciless as he put her through her paces, but she wasn't angry about it today. She knew he was just looking out for her.

As the sun began to disappear below the horizon shortly after eight, they started to play in the pool. They splashed each other, and he would chase her for a bit before catching her and letting her go again so he could chase after her some more. It was fun, and it was also helping her get in more practice. After about half an hour though, he clearly decided he'd had enough and when he caught her by the wrist this time in the center of the pool, he pulled her close and dropped his lips to hers.

She immediately melted against him and wrapped her arms around his neck. Circling his arms around her waist, he hauled her up against his hard, bare chest. As the fire rushed through her veins, she was the one to deepen the kiss this time. Her eyes once again drifted shut as their tongues dueled for control of the kiss. She just loved the taste of him.

When they had to separate for air, he pushed back the wet braid hanging over her shoulder and rained kisses down her neck, touching his tongue to her skin with each one. When he bit lightly down over her pulse point, she cried out in surprise at the sensation and fisted both hands in his mohawk. She yanked his head up roughly. Doing what she'd wanted to do oh so long ago, she bit down gently on his bottom lip and sucked. She was delighted when he let out a moan; it was heady to have that kind of effect on him.

Wrapping her legs around his hips, heat pooled between them as she realized how hard he was. She jerked her hips against him as their tongues tangled once again, causing him to give another moan into her mouth and press down on her lower back so they made closer contact. When he jerked on her braid to bend her head back and give himself better access to her throat and used his other hand to cup her right breast, she thanked God that the water supported her sohe had free use of his hands.

After several minutes of making out in the water, he pulled his head back from her and, resting his forehead against hers so he could look into her eyes, said in a rough voice, "Babe, we've gotta stop. I'm gonna embarrass myself worse than fuckin' Finn if we keep on like this."

She was still in a daze and didn't really register what he had said, so he had to reach around and remove her legs from his hips. Once he had broken her hold on him, he swam away. When she tried to follow him, he shook his head.

"You've gotta stay away right now."

Rachel blushed; she thought they were enjoying themselves. In fact, she was quite sure he was; she'd felt the proof herself. _So, why was he rejecting her?_

Her feelings must have shown on her face because he let out a frustrated sigh. "Don't look like that babe. I just need a little space or I'm gonna lose my control. You're hell on my self-restraint."

She grinned at that. _She tested his self-restraint!_

"Damn, I don't even have Finn's problem so how in the hell did he handle her?" Puck said quietly to himself.

Rachel heard, though, and was immediately reminded of what Finn had told her that afternoon. She suddenly felt upset again.

"I'm going to get something to drink," she announced to Puck before swimming to the ladder and climbing out of the pool.

When she was standing in front of the refrigerator, she spotted the strawberry wine coolers. She usually wouldn't ever drink alcohol (she _was_ underage), but after Finn's little revelation about how he was thinking of Quinn during her very first time, she thought maybe one wouldn't hurt. She probably had plenty of time for the alcohol to wear off before she had to drive. Making her decision, she grabbed the wine cooler and opened it. She took a drink; it was kind of bitter and she'd tasted better strawberry flavors, but it sent a warmth through her veins that she liked.

By the time she reached the deck, she'd already polished off a quarter of the wine cooler. She was feeling a little lighter, but she wasn't dizzy or having trouble walking, so she guessed she wasn't buzzed yet. Puck was sitting on one of the lounge chairs; the one that didn't have her clothes on it. As she caught the glint of his nipple ring and his lazy smirk, she glanced down at her wine cooler. _What was she thinking?_ She didn't need alcohol; Finn wasn't worth that. She set the bottle on the small metal table between the chairs and then plopped down sideways on Noah's lap.

When she realized that he was no longer prodding into her, she squirmed in his lap, "I see you have your self-control back."

"Yeah," he moaned as she moved against him again.

Rachel smiled innocently at him, "I don't think I like that."

He smirked at her, the shade of his hazel eyes changing to the deep green they always were when he was turned on. "You gonna do something about it?"

She just kept smiling at him as she leaned forward and pressed a quick kiss to his lips before dragging her lips over his chin and down his neck, to stop and nibble on his collarbone. He let out a moan and she squirmed against him as she grew wet. When she moved her lips to the muscles on his chest, she felt his excitement against her and grinned against his skin. She dropped kisses over his chest before taking his nipple ring between her teeth and giving a soft tug. He let out a groan, his loudest yet, and buried his hands in her hair at her scalp above her braid. When she gave another pull of his nipple ring, he jerked slightly on her hair, so she let go and allowed him to pull her up to his face. He took her lips with his and slid his tongue into her mouth when she readily opened for him. Two seconds later, he pulled back.

"Have you been drinking?" he questioned.

"Just a little," she responded, leaning forward to pull his earlobe between her teeth. He moaned.

"She's not Quinn."

He muttered it so quietly that she almost missed it, but when the words registered in her desire fogged mind, she felt the pain like an arrow to her heart. She let go of his ear and leaped from his lap as if burnt.

She made it all the way to her car before he came around the house after her. She didn't hear him yell 'Shit! Rachel, wait!' as she buckled her seat belt. She didn't see the panicked expression on his face as she started the car and backed down the drive. All she heard were his words 'She's not Quinn' over and over again. All she saw was the road blurred by her tears.

She never would remember how she made it to Brittany's house that night (though she still remembers the lecture Britt and Tina later gave her for drinking and driving, even if it was only a quarter of a wine cooler). All she knows is that she somehow made it to the blonde's in one piece. When Brittany opened the door and found Rachel standing there in her swimsuit with tears in her eyes, she just pulled her into a tight hug.


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot.

A/N: Thank you to all of my readers and reviewers! This is the next to last chapter, so I hope you guys enjoy it. Please read and review. Thanks!

Rachel was heartbroken. Even after everything Finn had said to her, her night had been going quite well. Yes, she had a moment of weakness when Puck mentioned Finn and she grabbed that wine cooler, but she'd only drank a small amount before she realized she didn't need it. Who needed alcohol when they had Noah Puckerman's undivided attention? Or at least she had thought she had his undivided attention. Yet he was just like Finn; they were both still thinking about Quinn. And once again Rachel came in second to the perfect Cheerio.

With an arm wrapped around her shoulders, Brittany had led Rachel into her room before letting her go so she could get a towel; Rachel hadn't dried off or gotten redressed before she'd driven over. Tina was already there, sitting on Brittany's bed and watching a movie. When she saw Rachel's face though, she paused the movie and hopped off the bed. Tina crossed the room to where Brittany had left Rachel standing (she hadn't moved-_she didn't think she could_) and gave her a quick hug with an awkward pat on the back, getting wet in the process. Rachel had noticed that Tina wasn't a very physically affectionate person (at least not with anyone but Artie), so the gesture slowed her tears.

After Brittany returned and wrapped a slightly calmer Rachel in a large white towel, the three girls took seats on the bed together.

"I knew something was wrong when I talked to you on the phone earlier. What happened?" the blonde asked, a concerned expression on her face.

With those words, it was as if a dam had broken in Rachel and the whole story about Noah came pouring out. She told them about the swim lessons and the two almost-kisses. She confessed to their makeout session on her porch and she explained about Finn's visit which led to the story about their first time, earning a couple of snickers at Finn's expense. Finally, she told them about the wine cooler and the final kisses she and Noah had shared.

"...and then he said that I'm not Quinn, so I just got out of there as fast as I could," Rachel finished her lengthy explanation.

Except for their earlier laughter, Brittany and Tina had both remained silent while she told her story (they hadn't even commented when she had confessed that she couldn't swim before her lessons with Puck). Absorbing the massive amount of information, the two girls exchanged a glance before turning back to Rachel.

"First off," Tina started, "I'd like to say how very stupid it was for you to drive after you had drank _any_ alcohol." When Rachel opened her mouth, Tina preempted her, "I know you said it was only a quarter of a wine cooler, but with your height and the fact that I'm pretty sure you've never drank before, that small amount probably affected you the same way a whole bottle would someone else."

Brittany bobbed her head in agreement. "If anything had happened to you, I'd cry. We both would," she added, gesturing to Tina. "So never again Rach. Promise."

Rachel ducked her head in shame. "I promise. I will never drink and drive ever again."

She wondered if this was what others felt like when she lectured them. _It wasn't much fun_.

Tina had the final say on the subject. "If you ever do anything that stupid again, we will go to your fathers." She was completely serious. "You could have been hurt or hurt someone else. And we won't just sit back and let you ruin your life because of a guy."

Rachel nodded. "I understand. I'll never drink and drive again," she reiterated. "I wouldn't want to hurt you guys or anyone else. Or myself," she added almost as an afterthought (and she never did drink and drive again).

Brittany nodded happily. "Good. Now about Finn. Don't listen to him. He's not important to you anymore, right?" Rachel shook her head. "So, just ignore him. And whatever you do, don't go back to him; you deserve better."

Tina added, "He was kind of a jackass. I mean, who says something like that and doesn't realize what an insult it is?"

Rachel watched uncomfortably as Brittany's expression fell; she knew the blonde was thinking about her own recent discovery that she had been insulting Rachel for years without knowing it.

"He didn't know what he was saying, so I'm not angry at him," Rachel said (actually, she was, but she didn't want to make Brittany think that she was mad at her for essentially committing the same crime to a lesser degree; Brittany's words hadn't shattered her confidence), "but I'm definitely not taking him back. I have zero interest in Finn. And after experiencing real passion..." she paused for a moment to blink back the tears that popped up at the thought of Noah, "I don't think I can ever settle for anything less again."

"Which brings us to the next issue. Puck," Tina stated. "I don't know what he was thinking tonight, but I saw the way he looked at you at Mike's and I really don't think there's any way he was thinking about Quinn while he was kissing you."

"He likes you Rach," Brittany picked up the thread of conversation. "Like really likes you. More than I think he ever liked Quinn. It was really mean of him to say her name while he was kissing you though. He should pay for that."

She frowned as if deep in thought. Rachel could just see the wheels turning in her head and really wanted to know what she was thinking. She wasn't so sure she wanted to forgive Noah either.

"Hey Rach," Brittany said this in a tone that worried Rachel. The wicked grin on her face didn't help either. "Which swimsuit are you wearing to the water park tomorrow?"

"This one," Rachel replied, gesturing at the green suit peaking out over the top of her towel. "Why?"

Brittany's grin grew. Tina was watching the two of them curiously.

"I think it's time to show Finn what he will never have again and Puck what he's missing."

"You don't mean..."

Brittany nodded vigorously. "I think it's time to bring out the bikini."

Rachel shook her head just as vigorously. "I don't want to. I shudder to think what Kurt and the others would say."

"Oh please. In that bikini there's nothing they could say. You're totally hot in it; it's like it was made especially for you."

Tina piped up, "What bikini?"

And then Brittany was off on a detailed description of the bikini she had talked Rachel into buying that left Tina looking a bit dazed. Britt's lengthy explanation gave Rachel a chance to consider the proposition. She had to admit that she'd looked pretty good in the bikini. And she'd love to show Noah what he could have had if he hadn't been dwelling on the wrong girl (and said the wrong name-otherwise she never would have known); she couldn't really care less about Finn (okay so that wasn't strictly true-she'd really like him to regret thinking of Quinn their only time together, but he'd seen all of her and if that hadn't been enough to keep his mind from wandering to Quinn when she wasn't there, then she doubted the sight of her in a bikini would do it when Quinn was there, no doubt in a bikini of her own). Mostly though, she just wanted to make Noah feel horrible for what he'd done tonight. And maybe a little jealous. There would be lots of boys at the park and in that bikini, she wouldn't lack for male attention. He would really regret saying Quinn's name when she was done with him (and yes, she was aware of how spiteful she sounded, but you know what they say about a woman scorned).

"I'll do it," she announced, drawing the other girls' attention to her.

Brittany clapped her hands together and bounced on the bed excitedly while Tina beamed proudly at her.

ooooo

Thirty minutes later Rachel was sitting with Brittany and Tina at a booth in the local dairy bar. The three had swung by her house so that she could pick up her bikini and something to wear (since she had left her clothing at Naomi's house and the only change of clothes she had with her was for tomorrow). Brittany had then declared that she was taking them all for ice cream. Upon arrival, she had chosen Rachel's strawberry sundae for her. Rachel had protested the frozen treat (she had already had the frosty earlier that week), but Brittany and Tina overrode her objections by stating that when a stupid boy breaks a girl's heart, it is that girl's right to gorge on ice cream. According to the two of them, it was the only thing that healed a broken heart (Rachel subscribed to the theory that time was actually the only thing that could heal her, but they had pointed out that time didn't taste good and that led to a whole discussion of what time tasted like which is why it took them ten minutes to order).

"You know, I'm really glad you didn't die on your drunken drive to my house tonight," Brittany said conversationally, inspecting the cookie dough ice cream on her spoon before eating it.

Rachel was starting to feel that she'd never live her transgression down. She stabbed at her sundae with her spoon. "And, why's that Britt? Other than the obvious of course."

The blonde swallowed. "Because it would have ruined all of my plans for our Halloween costumes."

Tina let out a quiet glad-I'm-not-you chuckle as she licked her twist cone, and Rachel's expression was non-plussed. "I'm sorry? You've planned our Halloween costumes?"

Brittany stuck her spoon into her ice cream and then poked it with a finger so that it stood straight up. "Yep. You're gonna go as Elphaba and I'm going as Glinda." She cocked her head to one side. "And Tina can go as Dorothy."

Rachel hid her smile at Tina's grimace. _Serves her right for gloating_.

Brittany didn't notice the girls' expressions as she continued to explain her costume plans. "Mike can be the scarecrow, Matt can be the tin man, and Artie the lion."

Rachel grinned and then laughed loudly at Brittany's next words.

"We'll make Puck be a flying monkey," the blonde announced decisively.

All three girls were giggling uncontrollably at the mental picture of him in one of the little vests with a tiny fez on his head when someone came to a stop by their booth.

"Tina? What are you doing here with them?"

The three girls, still snickering, looked over to find Mercedes; she appeared distinctly bewildered. Rachel shifted uncomfortably; Mercedes wasn't as bad as Kurt, but Rachel still wasn't sure how she would respond to her presence. She knew that Tina and Mercedes were really good friends though. Brittany, ever oblivious to the tension, was of course the one to break the silence.

"We were planning our Halloween costumes." She tilted her head again, studying the newcomer. "Do you want to come as a Wizard of Oz or Wicked character too?"

Mercedes shook her head in disbelief. "You're matching up your Halloween costumes to Rachel and Tina's? In June? You're crazy."

"Do you want to join us?" Tina offered. Rachel mentally snickered at the unintentional double meaning to the question. _Sure, Mercedes could join their insanity._

Mercedes was still shaking her head, but she nevertheless slid into the empty spot next to Tina and across from Brittany. Rachel had a feeling the trendy girl felt like she was watching a very interesting science experiment.

Sure enough, as the other three girls carried on just as they had been before her arrival, Mercedes sat uncharacteristically quiet and observed the three of them. When Rachel would sneak a glance over at her, she would find the other girl either amused or perplexed. It was almost as if she were entertained by them even as she didn't understand them.

A little later, as Brittany's spoon slumped due to her ice cream melting (she had obviously forgotten her frozen treat), Mercedes announced the conclusion she had clearly drawn from watching them.

"You have to be the strangest damn group of friends ever. Where are Quinn and Santana, Brittany? I'm surprised you're not with them."

"They're not welcome back until they start being nice to Rachel," the Cheerio declared, an abnormally harsh edge to her voice.

Mercedes clearly heard the warning in her tone because she backed off and instead asked, "How did all of you become friends? None of you were really even talking to each other on Tuesday when we left school."

Brittany was only too happy to reveal the whole story and did so starting with meeting Rachel in the mall Tuesday afternoon. Out of respect to Rachel, she left out the Puck stuff so that he was no more important to the story than Matt or Mike. They all knew that whatever Brittany said would get carried to Kurt who would then tell the rest of glee. Rachel and Tina (who had already heard the whole story) were happy to sit back and let her talk, adding details occasionally. When they explained about last night's fireworks dash, they all broke into laughter again.

Rachel, the only one of the three still capable of speech thanks to her superior lung capacity, finished the story. "And then the cop knocked on the door and asked about the noise. Mike told him we'd been watching the movie the whole time and when he saw that the three of us were crying, he kind of freaked out and left us alone. He even apologized for disturbing us." Then she descended into uncontrollable laughter again.

Mercedes appeared stunned by the story of their unexpected friendship. It took her a couple of moments to recover and talk over the laughter, which hadn't subsided in the least.

"You've all lost your damn minds!"

"No we haven't," Brittany gasped out, tears streaming down her cheeks.

The normally reserved Tina lifted her head from her hands to reveal sparkling eyes. "I didn't realize how much fun the jock gleeks could be. I'm actually really glad Artie and I ran into them at the movies; I wouldn't be sitting here right now if we hadn't."

Rachel giggled. "I didn't realize how funny the whole thing was until just now."

Tina hid her smile behind her hand and said, "I've got to say my favorite was when Puck said they couldn't take you anywhere at the movies."

Rachel placed her hands on her hips (a really awkward move since she was sitting down and she elbowed Brittany when she did so) and frowned at her friend. "I don't know what he was talking about. That was only the first time I'd disturbed someone else." She tried to sound aggravated, but the shine of her eyes belied her efforts before she let out another chuckle that turned into a hiccup. Covering her mouth, her cheeks turned bright red.

Mercedes was staring at her as if she truly did believe that Rachel had lost her mind.

"You know, diva, you're not so bad when you're not hogging all the solos," she declared.

Rachel gave her a shy smile. She certainly hadn't expected a compliment from her fellow diva.

"Well, you're pretty decent when you're not screaming about how you're not a backup singer," she admitted.

When Mercedes gave her a small yet genuine smile back, Rachel knew they had reached an understanding; they may never be best friends, but they could get along.

Brittany propped her chin on her hand, unknowingly sticking her elbow in her melted ice cream, and stared at the girl across from her. "Why is Kurt always so mean to Rachel?"

Mercedes sighed. "He's my best friend, so I don't want to screw him over or anything, but, you all know he has a thing for Finn, right?"

All three nodded; even Tina hadn't known why Kurt acted like he did (Brittany had already asked her the same question last night while they were using the sparklers).

"That's not fair!" Rachel burst out as she put the pieces together. "I'm not even with Finn anymore! Besides, as much as Kurt wishes he were, Finn's not gay. And how is that my fault?!"

"Girl, I never said it made sense."

The other three drifted into a conversation about the trip tomorrow while Rachel fumed at the unfairness of Kurt's behavior. When she looked past Tina, she saw something that made her grin again. She elbowed Brittany, who looked at her and then, at her nod, followed her gaze. An identical grin broke across her face.

"Okay, what's going on? The twin grins are creepin' me out," Mercedes said with a shudder.

Tina merely turned in her seat to see what they were looking at. She smiled at the sight.

Brittany grabbed Rachel's arm and slid out of the booth, pulling the brunette with her (Rachel grabbed a napkin for Britt's elbow on the way). "I think it's time to head home."

"Wha..." Mercedes trailed off as Tina gave her a shove out of their side of the booth. "Damn, no need to push."

As they followed the other two, Mercedes finally saw what her companions had already seen.

"Hello, Mr. Schuester," Rachel greeted as Brittany pulled her to a stop in front of the glee club's director.

"Hi Mr. Schue," Brittany also acknowledged him, linking her arm through Rachel's (who took advantage of the Cheerio's distraction to wipe the liquid off her elbow). "Hi Miss Pillsbury. I don't have a bird in my locker."

Tina and Mercedes, waving at Mr. Schuester and his date, joined them in time to hear this and the two of them, plus Rachel, started laughing again.

"Er, that's very good Brittany," the guidance counselor responded awkwardly.

"Well, we have to go. Big day tomorrow you know." Rachel used their linked arms to pull Brittany away from their teacher.

"But I wanna spy on them," the blonde whined loudly enough for the adults to hear as she tried fruitlessly to tug her arm from Rachel's.

"No, Brittany," Rachel denied her firmly, pausing to drop the napkin in the trashcan by the door.

As the four girls exited the dairy bar, Rachel overheard Miss Pillsbury mention that she 'didn't know those four were friends'.

"Neither did I," their curly-haired teacher replied in an excellent impression of Finn at his most clueless.

ooooo

The following morning was a rush as the three girls prepared for the day's trip (they had parted ways with Mercedes in the dairy bar's parking lot). Brittany's house only had two bathrooms and her sister Tiffany had locked herself in one of them at 6:30 that morning as the other three were waking up. Brittany claimed she had done so just to make things difficult on them, and Rachel was inclined to believe her (it also made her wonder if Britt was right and Tiffany truly was responsible for her frequently missing phone). They had expected two bathrooms for their use, so they'd gotten up later than they would have if they'd known that one bathroom would be taken. So the three girls rushed between Brittany's room and the downstairs bathroom, showering, dressing, and pulling their hair back (Rachel was actually sort of glad for this because it meant neither of the other girls had time to mention that she'd cried herself to sleep the previous night). Tina walked in on Rachel as she was pulling on a pair of shorts over her bikini. She was momentarily stunned before grinning and telling Rachel that she looked good. Rachel thanked her and pulled on the last of her new tank tops, completely hiding the bikini.

Brittany entered the bedroom after her shower just as Rachel started to braid her hair. As the blonde dressed, she insisted that Rachel leave it loose; Rachel disagreed. Thus, a seven minute argument ensued that only broke up when Tina reminded them that it was now 7:30 and they were supposed to be at the school by 8 and they still needed to stop somewhere and pick up breakfast. Rachel tossed the elastic band she was holding into her bag as Brittany threatened that the argument wasn't over yet. After ensuring they had everything, the girls made a mad dash for Tina's car (she was parked at the end of the driveway) and scrambled in.

Tina swung through the McDonald's drive-thru for their breakfast before heading to the school. They were singing, talking, and laughing on the way. It was going to be a good day-they could all feel it.

When they parked, they could see the rest of the club huddled near the bus. The absence of one freakishly tall boy meant that they weren't the last to arrive; that honor went to Finn. As they made their way to the group, Rachel's steps faltered. She hadn't seen Noah since last night and she wasn't sure how she was going to handle him, especially if he tried to talk to her about it. Luckily, her friends noticed her hesitation.

"We're right here, Rach," Brittany reassured her, taking her hand. "If you don't want to talk to him then you won't."

Tina nodded in agreement, stepping in closer to Rachel on the side opposite Brittany. Presenting a united front, they moved forward again to join the other members of glee. The response this demonstration had on the others was clear. Quinn and Santana wore matching sneers (directed at Rachel), Kurt's mouth was gaping open in a surprisingly graceless move for the normally elegant boy (_huh, Mercedes must not have told him about last night yet_), and Mr. Schuester looked like he didn't really know what to think (Miss Pillsbury, who was joining them, was already on the bus sanitizing the seats-they could see her fluttery movements through the windows). Mercedes, however, just gave them a small smile before reaching up and shutting Kurt's mouth for him. Matt, Mike, and Artie approached but Puck hung back, watching Rachel. He had apparently figured out that she would tell the other two girls about the previous night.

"What's with the protective Rachel sandwich?" Mike asked as the boys reached the girls. He recognized the expression on his girlfriend's face.

Matt frowned. "Did things not go well after I left you with Puck yesterday?"

Rachel sighed and simply said, "We kissed and he said Quinn's name."

Mike and Matt both turned to glare at Puck while Artie muttered 'Stupid' under his breath.

The six of them joined the club as Finn squealed to a stop in the parking lot. As he jogged up to them, apologizing for being late, Mr. Schuester ordered them all onto the (newly fresh-smelling) bus before operating the lift for Artie. Brittany and Rachel took the last seat on the driver side across the aisle from Tina and Artie. Matt and Mike took the seat in front of the two girls, effectively blocking Puck off from her. When Mercedes pushed Kurt into the seat across from the boys, Rachel's protective bubble was complete. Puck scowled at the eight of them before sprawling in the seat in front of Mike and Matt.

The two hour trip to Mason (they were going to The Beach) was surprisingly fun for Rachel. Sure, she was aware of Puck's frequent turning in his seat to look at her, and Kurt sulked when he realized he had to share Mercedes with their group (Mike and Matt accepted her easily just as they seemed to do everyone-of course Rachel also didn't see the way they glared at Kurt every time he opened his mouth to speak), but otherwise it was great. When Rachel asked Matt about his date, it stirred up a lot of interest, so he had to explain about Daniella. They teased him about her, causing him to turn red each time her name was mentioned. True to her words, Brittany restarted their earlier argument when Rachel pulled the elastic and a small brush from her bag. The others were highly entertained as they watched the blonde bully Rachel into leaving her hair down (_who knew Brittany was so capable of manipulating the willful diva?_). They also discussed which rides they wanted to go on (Rachel had researched the park extensively on the internet). They didn't dwell on that subject though because they knew Artie's accessibility to the rides was limited. All in all, the drive passed fairly quickly, and before they knew it, they were pulling into the parking lot shortly after ten.

The first thing they did upon entering the park was find the locker rooms. After they had split into their respective rooms, the girls rented their lockers (Rachel and Brittany shared) and put on sun block. Rachel lingered over that step as she waited around for Quinn, Santana, and Mercedes to finish. She was still really nervous about wearing her bikini in front of everyone.

"You're gonna have to show that manly body of yours sometime Rupaul; you can't hide in here forever," Santana remarked spitefully as she and Quinn left the room.

Tina gave Rachel an encouraging smile before leaving the room with Mercedes and Miss Pillsbury. Brittany and Rachel were the only girls left in the room (from their group that is).

"Come on Rach. Time to show Puck what he's missing," Brittany prompted her.

Taking a deep breath to calm her nerves, Rachel quickly pulled off her shirt and shorts and stuffed them in the locker. She took a few moments to apply sunscreen to her stomach while Brittany did her back for her. When she shut the locker and started toward the exit, Brittany grabbed her arm and pulled her over to one of the mirrors.

"You're still nervous," she observed, "so I want you to take a good look at yourself in the mirror. You look fabulous and everyone is going to see that, including Puck. He won't know what hit him."

As Rachel did what Brittany told her to, she was reminded forcefully of the moment in the dressing room when Brittany had talked her into buying the crimson string bikini with its silver ties. She also remembered the words Brittany had used to prod her into purchasing it. _'It would drive Puck nuts. He would eat his heart out. I bet he'd even walk into the nearest object the instant he saw you.' _

Brittany must have been thinking about that conversation too because when she met Rachel's uncertain eyes in the mirror just as she had that day, she said, "I'll bet you five bucks Puck walks into whatever or whoever's closest to him when he sees you. I'll bet you ten bucks he does it three times today."

Rachel grinned back at the blonde, her confidence restored. "You're on."

The two exited the locker room. They were the last to rejoin the group (except for Puck; he was still in the locker room), all of whom were arguing excitedly about what they should do first.

As they reached the others, Rachel suggested, "Maybe we should try the wave pool first." She thought it best to start with something Artie could enjoy.

Artie gave her a grateful smile, then his eyes bugged out. As the others faced her and Brittany, Rachel felt what Quinn and Santana must feel everyday-unabashed male interest.

Mike, Matt, and Artie were staring at her wide-eyed. Brittany and Tina rolled their eyes and subtly nudged the boys to stop their gawking. Quinn's face had gone completely blank and Santana was scowling at Rachel. Finn was drooling (literally, Rachel could see the liquid on his chin-_it was kind of gross_). Mercedes and Kurt were both watching her in shock.

Amazingly, it was Kurt who broke the silence when he walked a small circle around Rachel. "This," he waved his hand at her body, "is a vast improvement over your other suit. Where were you hiding this when I inspected that horrid one piece on Wednesday?" He came to a stop in front of her and surveyed the bikini closely. "As much as it pains me to admit it, I approve of this fashion choice."

Rachel considered this for a moment before stating, "You know what Kurt? I don't need your approval." Her expression softened, "But when you're ready to offer your friendship, I'll accept that." She turned to answer a question from Mike, leaving Kurt to gape at her as if he'd just seen her in a new light.

A couple of seconds later, Noah strode out of the men's locker room and Rachel looked up at his bare chest (_oh, that nipple ring_). As his eyes locked on Rachel's, they deepened instantly from their normal hazel to green. Feeling her blood heat at the lust in them, Rachel broke eye contact and turned back to her friends.

"Darn it Puck! Watch where you're going. I think you broke my toe!" Rachel heard Quinn call from behind her.

Brittany leaned over and whispered, "You owe me five dollars."

ooooo

The group had actually taken Rachel's suggestion (for once) and, so, an hour later she found herself floating on an inner tube in the wave pool. Her hand was linked with Brittany's so that they wouldn't lose each other when the waves hit. They had already ridden through several rounds of waves; she hadn't expected it to be so exciting. Each time they bounced up, their hands would try to pull apart, so it actually took a lot of effort to stay together. In fact, they had started out as a foursome with Mike holding onto Brittany and Matt to Rachel, but Rachel had lost Matt with the first set of waves and then Brittany lost Mike the next round. The girls had stuck together for the next three bouts, causing Mike to yell over at them that Rachel had betrayed him and stolen his girlfriend. The two girls had merely smiled back at him and clasped their hands tighter, pulling closer together. This earned a laugh from the two boys who had washed halfway across the pool. Rachel was also pretty sure she had heard Tina giggle loudly from her place in the shallows with Artie; apparently she was watching them interact.

Project Make-Puck-Jealous, as Brittany had named it (yeah, Rachel didn't find it a very creative name), was also in full swing. It had started when a boy Rachel had never met had asked if she needed any help with her sunscreen-Puck really hadn't liked that. His deadly look had sent the other boy scurrying to his friends and far away from Rachel. She just couldn't believe anyone would be so forward-_like she'd actually let some stranger touch her_. She was realistic enough to know that even though Noah had hurt her badly last night, she still didn't want anyone else. If the glare he had sent her and Matt's clasped hands from his spot just ten feet away when they first entered the wave pool was any indication, he still didn't believe that though. _But he deserved it because he clearly didn't want only Rachel. He wanted Quinn._ So, she didn't feel bad for upsetting him. It was better this way; he wouldn't realize the power he had over her.

Another set of waves hit, drawing her from her thoughts. She clasped tightly to Brittany's hand as they drifted closer to the rock wall and farther from Mike and Matt. She'd lost track of Puck after the third group of waves, but she knew he was still watching her from wherever he was; she could feel the itch under her skin. A particularly large wave rolled under them and broke her grasp on Brittany's hand. When the water stilled again, Brittany had drifted a fair distance toward the center of the pool and Rachel was still close to the wall. She couldn't see either of the boys anymore, but Santana was near her.

Brittany giggled and called, "Hey, Rach, I'm going to come over there, so stay put, 'kay?" She began to paddle forward with her hands.

Ignoring the way Santana was glaring at her, Rachel laughed. _As if she could really choose to stay put._

She and Brittany had just made contact when the next round of waves began, pulling them apart again. They both laughed at the near miss (or was that near hit?).

Rachel was caught off guard when her inner tube flipped over forcefully, dumping her into the water. She struggled to keep above the surface, but the waves were just too high for her. Each one shoved her under and pulled her in deeper when she tried to swim toward the shallow end.

All Rachel remembers of the next few seconds is Brittany screaming her name, a loud crack, and a sharp pain in her head.

Then everything went black.


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot. I also don't name any of the rides listed. I got the names off The Beach's official website. Also, I guessed at the medical advice listed based on a website I found since I never actually got checked for a concussion the one time I got knocked out. The short-term memory loss is normal though (I still can't remember what happened for about 15-20 minutes after I regained consciousness even though my mom says I was walking and talking). Also, I couldn't remember which side Noah had pierced so I guessed it was the left.  
A/N: I would like to thank all of my readers and all of my reviewers! Without all of your encouragement and wonderful words, I probably wouldn't have made it to the end of this story. You guys let me know my efforts were worth something! And over 100 of you have made this story a favorite-that's just so amazing! Wow, we've made it to the final chapter. I can't believe it's already here. I'm going to miss this story, but I'm also excited to move on to my other ideas. Speaking of which, you might want to check back later this week for my new oneshot that I'm writing next. However, it will be a tragedy, so if you don't like unhappy endings you might want to stay away from it. I really hope I've done the ending justice for everyone who has been following this story (and there so many more of you than I ever expected there to be). Please read and review (I want to know what you think of the ending). Thanks!

Rachel was dazed. She was lying on something very hard and she was freezing. She felt like something big had happened, but she couldn't remember anything from before she woke up. She didn't really want to open her eyes; her head was throbbing, so she just knew that the light would irritate them. Scrunching up her face, eyes still shut, she tried to remember what had happened.

She had been in the wave pool when she and Brittany had gotten split up by a new set of waves. She remembered Brittany nearly made it back to her but then the waves had started up again and they had once again been separated. Everything went fuzzy at that point though. _What had happened?_ She thought it must have been something important, but she couldn't pinpoint it. She must have gotten knocked out somehow though; otherwise, she wouldn't have such a terrible headache.

Rachel had been so absorbed in recovering her memories that she hadn't noticed the voices around her, but she noticed now. One of them was shouting and it was making her head hurt even worse. When she focused on the voice, she was surprised to recognize it. _Noah? What was he doing here? And why did he sound so angry?_ Her curiosity was killing her, but she couldn't bring herself to find out. That would require opening her eyes. Instead, she attempted to tune him out and focus on the other sounds in the room. She could hear Mr. Schuester quietly trying to calm Noah down, and there was a girl speaking quietly; that seemed to make Noah even louder. However, it was the last sound, a heart-wrenching sob, that made her finally open her eyes. Looking past Noah, Mr. Schuester, and Santana (_what??_), Rachel saw Brittany sitting alone on a chair in the corner, crying.

"Brittany," she croaked out. Her throat was really sore.

That one word had an amazing effect on the room. Brittany jumped up and ran past the others to throw herself on Rachel where she lay, knocking the breath out of her. Noah stopped yelling, and he and Mr. Schuester approached. Santana didn't move, but when she looked over at Rachel, there was relief in her glassy eyes (_had she been crying?_). Rachel wrapped her arms around Brittany, who had half-lifted her off the surface she was lying on and was currently trying to crush all of her ribs.

"I was so, so worried," Brittany murmured. "You didn't wake up for so long. I thought Puck had gotten to you too late."

"Can't...breathe...." Rachel gasped out. She loved Britt, but the girl was going to kill her if she didn't loosen her grip.

Brittany eased up, though she didn't actually let go; she had started crying into Rachel's shoulder.

A warm hand smoothed down the back of Rachel's head, sending comfort through her and easing the ache inside. She leaned back into the touch with closed eyes, enjoying the sensation for a few moments before opening them and looking up into Noah's hazel gaze. The emotions she saw there caused her heart to constrict in her chest. The worry, relief, and joy were easily recognizable, but there was also something infinitely more tender-something she had never seen there before and something that terrified her; she chose not to analyze it too closely as she remembered that she was mad at him because he preferred Quinn (_but oh, she hoped it was what she thought it was_). The thought of Quinn must have shown on her face because he dropped his hand and took a step back (she tried to pretend she didn't immediately miss the contact). Mr. Schuester stepped into Puck's empty spot.

"Puck, go let the others know she's awake so they can go back to their plans."

Puck cast one last, longing look at Rachel before exiting the room.

"Rachel, how are you feeling?" Mr. Schuester asked, concern evident in his tone.

Rachel grimaced, rubbing circles on Brittany's back as she continued to sob. "I have a headache, my throat's really sore, and I'm freezing because of the air conditioning, but other than that I feel fine. I'd like to rejoin the others if possible."

Mr. Schuester nodded. "I'll just go see if I can find the EMT to check you over. If he gives approval for you to return to the park and the rides, then I won't stop you."

He stepped out of the room. Almost instantly, Rachel heard Puck cry out.

"You left Santana in there with her?! What if she tries to smother her with a pillow?!"

Mr. Schue's voice came soothingly, "You're overreacting Puck."

Rachel was highly confused by the entire exchange. _What had happened while she was unconscious?_ Because, she had finally remembered that her inner tube had flipped over during a round of waves and she hadn't been able to swim away. Instead she had been dragged to the side, eventually hitting the right side of her head on the rock wall of the pool. She still didn't know why her tube had flipped to begin with, but she suspected it must have been the waves (it had just been _so_ steady up until that point).

Puck stormed into the room and Rachel winced as the slam of the door made her head throb. She winced again when she got a good look at the expression on his face as he glared at Santana, who was cowering under his gaze. He looked positively murderous; Rachel had never seen him so terrifying.

"What's wrong? Why are you so angry Noah? Why do you think Santana would smother me with a pillow?" Rachel questioned, desperate for some answers.

Surprisingly, it was Brittany who answered, lifting her head and twisting to see Santana. "She tried to kill you!" If looks could kill, Santana would be dead twice over now.

Santana finally spoke. "I did not! It was just supposed to be a joke. I didn't mean for her to actually get hurt," she finished softly.

Rachel cast a glance between the other three. "I'm really confused. Can someone please explain to me what exactly is going on here?"

As Puck opened his mouth to answer, the door swung open and Mr. Schuester entered, accompanied by a member of the medical staff.

"Okay, Rachel, is it?" he began with a charismatic smile. "I'm just going to check for any signs of concussion; that's the main worry with head trauma now that you've woken up successfully." He turned his smile on Brittany, who was still wrapped around Rachel. "You'll need to move so I can give her the check up."

Brittany pulled her arms from around Rachel. Grasping her left hand, she moved to stand on the left side of the examination table that Rachel was on. The glare she sent the EMT made it clear that was as far as she was willing to move. He just sent her a comforting smile and worked from the right side of the table. Puck and Mr. Schuester stood against the wall on either side of the open door; Santana still hadn't moved from her spot in the center of the room, though she was watching the EMT's actions anxiously.

He started by checking the dilation of her eyes and testing her reflexes. As he performed the physical actions of the exam, he kept up a steady stream of questions for Rachel to answer.

"What is your full name?"

"Rachel Barbra Berry."

"Where are you?"

"I'm at The Beach, a water park in Mason, Ohio."

"Who is the current president?"

"President Barack Obama," Rachel answered, "and it is about time our country had an African-American president. Of course a female president would have shown excellent progress too. My Daddy says..."

"She's fine, dude," Puck cut her off.

The EMT let out a chuckle as Rachel scowled at Puck. "It certainly appears so. I don't see any signs of concussion, and though your throat is a little raw, that's just from swallowing and then spitting up so much chlorinated water during the CPR performed on you." He stepped back from Rachel. "You're okay to return to the park, although you should avoid the body slides since they place extra stress on the neck and head. And if you start to feel light-headed or dizzy, you're to return here. Otherwise, you're free to go."

Rachel smiled and got off the table, Brittany still keeping a hold on her hand. Their entire group of five left the first aid building. Rachel was slightly surprised to find the entire glee club waiting outside. She was even more surprised by the concerned looks reflected back at her from every face, including Kurt and Quinn.

"So, you alright then, diva?" Mercedes asked.

Rachel smiled brightly at them. "I feel fine, but none of you would happen to have any aspirin, would you?"

Most of the others laughed at that. She was obviously in good spirits.

"I have some in my locker. Would you like me to get it for you?" Kurt offered.

Rachel was touched. Perhaps this was his way of offering his friendship. If so, she would accept just as she had said she would. "If you wouldn't mind; my head really is quite sore."

He nodded and he and Mercedes moved down the path toward the locker rooms.

Mr. Schuester clapped his hands. "Okay guys, I think we can just split up now. Go enjoy yourselves. Remember to meet back at the locker room, fully dressed and ready to go by five. It's 11:30 now, so that gives you plenty of time to have fun."

He and Miss Pillsbury moved back in the direction of the nearby wave pool with a quiet 'I'm glad you're okay Rachel' from the guidance counselor. Tina and Artie followed them, the brunette stopping to pat Rachel's arm on the way. Quinn and Santana headed in the same direction as Kurt and Mercedes.

Mike and Matt approached Rachel and Brittany.

"So, we thought we'd hit the Typhoon Twist first. What do you think?" Mike asked the girls.

"I was told to avoid body slides," Rachel admitted. Seeing the disappointment on their faces, she added, "but you three could go without me. I'll be fine on my own."

"You wouldn't mind?" Matt checked.

"Not at all. I don't want to ruin anyone's fun," she reassured them.

"I'm staying right here," Brittany declared. "I'll keep Rachel company."

The guys smiled at them before taking off in the direction opposite the wave pool. A bright light flashed from somewhere nearby. When Rachel looked in the direction of the flash, she recognized the frizzy haired boy, but then he was gone.

"Jacob's here," she announced in a less than pleased voice.

"Yeah, he was lurking around the wave pool earlier. Mercedes and I have discussed it, and we believe he is stalking you," Kurt announced as he and his best friend rejoined them.

He held a little white bottle of Tylenol out to Rachel. She gratefully shook out two before handing the bottle back to him.

"Glad you're good Rachel," Mercedes said. "Now, if you'll excuse us, Kurt and I are gonna go get our slide on."

The two headed back the direction they'd come from.

"I'll go get you some water so you can take your pills," Finn proposed excitedly.

Rachel had forgotten he was even there (unlike Noah, whose presence she felt behind her even though he'd been silent since they'd left the exam room). Again, the puppy dog like actions that used to endear him to her just made her feel vaguely annoyed.

"No, Finn. I'll get something for myself. You should go and find Quinn; I know how much you still like her," she spoke the last part more sharply than she normally would, but his unintentionally hurtful words from yesterday were still reverberating in her head.

"But, Rachel, I told you..." Finn started.

"Yes, I remember perfectly well what you told me. That's why I think you should go find Quinn. I'm going to be as nice about this as possible, but I'm not interested in you Finn. I do not want to date you, not now, not ever again. I'm sorry if I seem harsh, but I've tried to be subtle about it and that only caused you to say what you did, so you clearly didn't understand me," Rachel explained. "So, again, go find Quinn."

Finn's expression was sad, but he turned around and moved away from the wave pool. Rachel, her back to Puck, hadn't seen the fascinated way he had followed the conversation or the frown on his face as a suspicion niggled at him from Rachel's words. She did however feel the shock that ran down her arm as his hand landed on her shoulder (she tried to ignore the memory of how he had kissed the same skin his hand now covered).

"You okay there Berry?" he asked, gazing down at her.

Dazed (she could see that unlabeled emotion in his eyes again), she just nodded. He gave her a rakish smirk before following Finn. Rachel shook her head to clear the fog that had set in.

"So, let's get some water." Brittany's tone was calm, but there was a knowing grin on her face.

ooooo

Rachel's morning had been plenty of fun (you know, if you don't include that whole getting knocked out thing), but she was starting to get frustrated. Jacob Ben-Israel kept popping up and snapping pictures of her, so Kurt and Mercedes were right-he was clearly stalking her. Brittany had gotten very clingy since they'd left the first aid building. At first, her reactions were understandable to Rachel. Brittany had clearly been shaken up by Rachel's accident and keeping in contact with her had reassured the blonde that Rachel was, in fact, perfectly safe and healthy. That had been two hours ago though and Rachel really wanted her hand back. On top of all of that, Puck was lurking around. It was as if he'd made it his mission to keep an eye on her. Rachel and Brittany were sitting at a table across from Mike and Matt, who had found them, eating lunch, Puck at the next table, when another flash shined through the seating area.

"I am so sick of Jacob Ben-Israel," she complained.

Mike shook his head. "The guy traveled two hours to take pictures of you in a bikini. How messed up is that?"

"Actually, this is pretty normal for him. He's usually perched in the tree outside my bedroom with his camera. I've tried calling the cops, but they don't respond anymore since there's almost always someone causing problems at our house." She noticed the horrified expressions on her three friends' faces. "Oh, don't worry. I've learned to just keep my blinds closed at all times ever since he got a topless picture of me the first time he climbed my tree."

Rachel felt more than saw Puck get up and leave the seating area. She turned to Brittany.

"Um, Britt, do you think you could let go of my hand? It's gone numb," she requested gently.

Brittany dropped her hand and apologized, "I'm sorry Rachel, but I really thought you were going to die. I was so scared and there was nothing I could do to help. I'm just so mad at Santana!"

Rachel's earlier confusion rushed back. "I'm sorry, but what does Santana have to do with my accident?"

"She's the one who flipped your inner tube over!" Brittney burst out. "I saw her do it but I couldn't warn you in time. And I'm not a very good swimmer, so I couldn't save you. I could just scream when you hit your head. I'm just so glad that Puck got to you in time."

"Wait," Rachel hesitated, piecing the explanation together, "Santana pushed me into the water and Puck saved me? Why would she do that?"

Mike shrugged. "Hard to say. She probably just thought it was a prank."

"A horrible prank," Matt added. "Luckily Puck had already started swimming to you before Brittany screamed, so he was able to get you out before you drowned. He even used CPR to get you breathing again; thank God his mom made him learn it so he could take his sister swimming."

An awestruck look crossed Mike's face. "You should have seen the way he looked at Santana when he told us what had happened on the way to the first aid building. I honestly thought he was going to attack her."

Brittany nodded. "He probably would have if she wasn't a girl. Mr. Schue told her that if school hadn't ended for the year she'd be in a lot of trouble for what she did. Umm, what'd he call it? Engendering a fellow student?"

"Endangering," Matt corrected her. "And Puck yelled at her the whole time you were unconscious; we could hear him all the way outside."

There were a few minutes of silence as Rachel considered their words.

"My eyes, my eyes!" Kurt cried out lowering himself into an empty seat at their table with Mercedes. "Puck just threw Jacob Ben-Israel down the Banzai. Nude. Do you think anyone in the park knows how to perform a nice, brain-cleansing lobotomy?"

"Not the first dick I wanted to see," Mercedes added.

"Me neither," Kurt agreed. They both gave a disgusted shudder before Kurt mentioned, "Quite the avenging angel you have there Rachel."

"What are you talking about?" she asked curiously.

"We were next in line for the slide, so we overheard Puck telling the little creeper that the next time he climbed the tree outside your bedroom, he was going to, and I quote, 'shove a branch so far up your ass you'll be coughing sawdust'," Mercedes filled them in.

While Rachel gaped, Mike, Matt, and Brittany burst into laughter.

"I bet your Jacob problem is taken care of for good now Rach," Mike gasped out.

Rachel just shook her head in disbelief and stood up. Her three best friends followed suit. Rachel gave a little wave to Mercedes and Kurt as they began to walk away. She stretched her arms above her head, working out the kinks in her back from sitting for so long, as Puck passed going the other way, his eyes glued to her flat stomach. As they reached the edge of the tables, they heard a loud crash behind them. Turning, they saw Puck righting himself from where he'd tripped over one of the table's legs. As they turned back around, Brittany flashed two fingers at Rachel.

ooooo

At three that afternoon, Rachel was sitting on a bench at the bottom of the Aztec Adventure slide waiting on her friends and cradling her head in her hands. Her earlier Tylenol had worn off and her headache was back with a vengeance so she hadn't felt up to the slide. She had a huge goose egg above her right ear that was throbbing. When someone sat down next to her, she didn't even lift her head.

"Here."

At the sound of Quinn's voice, Rachel looked up to find the head Cheerio holding out one of the travel packs of Tylenol the park sells and an unopened bottle of water to her. She was very surprised at Quinn's kindness; they hadn't spoken a single word since the mall (and that wasn't exactly a happy encounter). Still, she was in too much pain to turn down the offered relief. Taking the pills and water from the blonde, Rachel thanked her. After Rachel took the painkillers, they sat silently for a few moments before Quinn spoke.

"Are you and Finn really done?" Quinn asked out of the blue.

Rachel was a bit surprised by the question, but answered, "Yes. We are definitely through." Rachel's eyes unconsciously sought out Puck, who was sitting on a bench around the corner of the pool watching Quinn through narrowed eyes. "I've moved on."

Quinn followed her gaze.

"He's not slept with anyone since you and Finn broke up, you know," she stated coolly, still looking at him. "Actually, he's only slept with one Cheerio since he and I broke up and that was the day after you and Finn had sex."

Rachel blushed, "You could all tell we'd done that, huh?"

Quinn rolled her eyes at Rachel. "Finn wasn't exactly subtle about it. Puck was really angry, so he slept with one of the seniors on my squad." She sighed. "Then you and Finn broke up the next day and he stopped sleeping around altogether."

"Why are you telling me all of this?" Rachel questioned. This whole conversation seemed so out of character for what she knew about Quinn.

"Because, whatever it may look like, Brittany really is my friend and I miss her. If being nice to you means I get to have her back in my life, then I'm willing to do it. I'm not saying you and I will ever be best friends or anything, but I think we can get along with each other for Brittany's sake," she explained.

Rachel nodded. "That works for me; I don't want Brittany hurt and I know she misses you and Santana, though maybe not the latter so much right now."

Quinn ignored that comment and glanced over at Puck again before facing Rachel. "Also, as Puck reminded me repeatedly while we were dating, you stood by me when all of my friends but San and Britt had abandoned me. I may have ignored that, but I won't anymore." Quinn stood up. "Anyway, you should fix whatever happened between the two of you. Puck gave up sex for you, and you know what a huge deal that is for a 'stud' like him." With that advice, Quinn walked away.

It was at times like this that Rachel remembered why it was so hard to hate Quinn. Underneath her icy shell, there was actually a decent person (plus, it wasn't her fault that both the important guys in Rachel's past had thought about her while they were with Rachel).

It wasn't two seconds later that Santana sat down in Quinn's abandoned spot on the bench. Rachel edged away slightly as Puck got to his feet, eyes glued to Santana and prepared to help Rachel if needed.

"I'm not fuckin' going to hurt you, manhands."

Rachel just held herself very still, ready to flee at the slightest sign of danger.

"Look, I wanted to apologize. I didn't mean for you to get knocked out when I flipped you; I just thought it'd be funny to watch you struggle a little. So, can we just put this the hell behind us so that Brittany will talk to me again?" the Latina requested in a demanding tone.

Rachel shook her head slowly. "I have put up with a lot from you over the years. The slushies, the pornography on the bathroom walls, the nicknames, and so many others; and yes, I know you weren't the only one to do those things. I never retaliated because you never physically hurt me; you never endangered my health or my life," Rachel paused to draw a deep breath. "You crossed that line today. You put me in a situation that placed me in danger and I nearly drowned because of it-because you thought it'd be funny. The point of all this is that when Brittany forgives you, and we both know she will-her heart is too big not to-I will tolerate you, but that is it. I will never trust you as I might have someday before you nearly killed me; as I may someday trust Quinn. And the worst part is that I will never be in your corner the way I am for the rest of my friends; you gave up that chance today."

Having had her say, Rachel walked off to join Brittany and the boys who had finally come down the slide. She wasn't aware that her words had their intended impact as Santana wondered how badly she had screwed up that someone who would trust Puck, and maybe even Quinn one day, after all they had done to her, would never trust her.

ooooo

An hour after her confrontation with Santana (and many confirmations that she was perfectly fine), Rachel, Brittany, and the boys were rounding a curve near the wave pool on their way to the Twilight Zoom. Rachel was feeling slightly more comfortable-Puck had stopped shadowing her (she had a feeling she should be worried about that though-her psychic powers were clearly acting up). They only had just under an hour left before they'd have to be changed and ready to leave. Rachel was actually sad to see the day come to a close even if it had been a very action-packed one. She couldn't believe that she had braved a string bikini, stood up to Kurt and Santana, nearly drowned, spent ten minutes unconscious, and come to an understanding of sorts with Quinn. And, as she learned when she rounded that curve, the surprises weren't over.

"What kind of fuckin' bastard says that to a girl?!" Puck yelled.

The four of them came to a stop at the shocking sight of Puck cornering Finn next to the entrance of the very slide they were headed to. His face was red and Finn was backed up against the wooden staircase behind him. Much like the night at Wendy's when Rachel had told them about Kurt's insults, Puck had clearly reached the limit on his control. Mike and Matt told the girls to stay put before taking off to stop Puck if they needed to.

"Do you have any _fucking_ idea what the hell you did to her when you said that?!"

"I was trying to make things better; I want her back. She deserves better than you!" Finn, oblivious to the danger he was already in, shouted back. "At least I wouldn't just use her for sex!"

Puck let out a roar and reared his right arm back. Mike lunged forward, but he was too late and Puck threw his fist forward and caught Finn square in the nose. Hard. Rachel watched in horror as he doubled over and covered his face with his hands, blood streaming from under them. When Puck pulled back again, Mike and Matt each grabbed an arm. Puck tried to throw them off, but their hold was too tight.

"Let me go! Goddamnit, let me fuckin' go!"

He finally tore himself from their grasp and turned. Rachel was standing there with a hand over her mouth. She knew that Puck tended to solve problems physically but she had never actually seen it before (the closest had been when Finn punched him over the revelation of the baby's paternity). It was a terrifying sight-she really didn't like violence. When Puck caught sight of Rachel's expression, his own softened noticeably as sadness filled his eyes. He didn't say anything though, just walked back around the curve toward the wave pool.

As Rachel stood there watching Finn collect himself as Matt instructed him to visit the first aid building, she knew she had reached another crossroads. She had a choice to make, just as she had when Puck had offered her his hand before her first swim lesson. Only this time, he had offered her a glimpse of his vulnerability in the way he had looked at her before walking off. She could ignore it or follow him and finally have it out over the Quinn issue. Whichever she decided, she instinctively knew that they would never be able to go back.

Making her choice, she turned and sprinted back around the curve, ignoring Brittany calling her name. She prayed he hadn't gotten too far.

When she reached the wave pool, she scanned the crowd for Noah. She was so absorbed in her search that she didn't even notice Tina and Artie waving at her. Just when she'd lost hope and believed that she had hesitated too long to make her decision, she saw him leaning in an alcove next to the tube rental stand watching her through hooded eyes. She approached him, not sure what she was going to say.

"What did you think you were doing back there?!" _Okay, so righteous anger it was_. "You could have broken his nose! You know I don't approve of violence; and yes, I know what he just told you because I know what he told me to try and win me back. I don't know why he would have told you that, but I don't think that punching him..."

Noah straightened up. "Rachel, for once in your life shut the fuck up and listen to someone else."

Shocked speechless, Rachel immediately shut her mouth.

Noah smirked. "Better. I asked Finn about what he'd said because you seemed pretty sure that he was still into Quinn and you ran out when I said Quinn's name last night. But you took it the fuckin' wrong way."

"You don't just say another girl's name unless you're think..."

He cut her off again, "I wasn't thinking about Quinn when I was kissing you."

"But you said..."

"Damn it Rachel, I love you!" he shouted in exasperation.

Rachel went completely still. She thought her heart may have stopped. He couldn't have just said what she thought he did (but, _oh how she hoped he had_). "What?"

"I love you," he repeated. "I've wanted you for months but then you went and dated fucking Finn so I dated Quinn. And when you had sex with that bastard, I completely lost it. Even after you broke up with him I never made a fuckin' move because he's right, you do deserve better than me, a fuckin' Lima loser who's going nowhere when you're gonna be a fuckin' Broadway star." By the time he finished his speech, his voice had lost all of its vehemence and his eyes had softened back into that earlier sadness. When he continued however, it was with renewed vigor. "You're a fuckin' idiot though if you think I wanted Quinn last night. I lose control when I kiss you and you had been fuckin' drinking and the last time I slept with a girl who was drinking she decided I had ruined her life; she still fuckin' thinks so."

"Quinn," she breathed out. And Rachel finally understood what was happening in his head the previous night. "That's what you meant, you were reminding yourself that I'm not Quinn and that I deserve better than drunken sex." She looked up at him; he was avoiding her gaze, so she knew she was right. "But Finn had said all that stuff to me about her earlier and so I thought you were just thinking like him, wishing I was her. It was more than I could take in one day, so I ran and didn't let you explain." She buried her face in her hands. "Oh, I was such a fool."

Noah tugged on her wrists to remove her hands from her face. Closing both wrists in one hand and cupping her chin with the other, he tilted her head to look up at him. "That's why I punched him. He was an asshole to say those things to you. I don't want fuckin' Quinn; I want you, I wanted you even when I was dating her. I don't want to ever fucking lose you again like I almost did today."

Then he let go of her wrists, threaded that hand through her wet hair, and lowered his lips to hers. It felt even better than before, she thought as she flattened her palms over his nipples, his piercing cutting into her right one. The movement of his lips on hers sent heat to pool between her legs as he began to rub circles on her cheek with his thumb. As he pulled her lower lip between his teeth and bit down, she moaned and melted against him. When he swiped his tongue against her lip, easing the bite, she pulled it out of his grasp to let him deepen the kiss instead. He still tasted of mint and cinnamon and it still topped her previous favorite, strawberry. As their tongues meshed together, she pushed him farther into their alcove. He stumbled slightly but when his back hit the wall, he shifted so that his thigh was pressed against her core. Unable to resist the sensation, she ground against him, turning her blood to fire in her veins.

Using his thigh to help lift her up, he brushed her hair aside and lowered his lips to her neck.

"So you love me?" Rachel got out between gasps for air. "Because, God help me, I sure as hell love you." She wasn't even sure when it had happened.

Her words clearly awoke something in him because he bit down on her collar bone and sucked. She knew he was marking her as his but she didn't care. She was his. And the slight pain just added an edge that enhanced her pleasure. Grinding down against his thigh harder, she grabbed hold of his mohawk with one hand and tugged his nipple ring between the thumb and forefinger of the other. He let out a hiss against her neck as he soothed the irritated skin of the mark he'd left with his tongue.

Someone cleared their throat behind Rachel, bringing the two of them out of their bubble.

"I'm thrilled that you guys made up," Brittany started.

"And out," Mike added, raising an eyebrow suggestively.

Brittany scowled at him, "Quiet." She turned back to Rachel and Noah, "but we only have about fifteen minutes before we're supposed to leave. Plus, if you guys keep doing that, you'll get kicked out."

"Or you'll have all the adults in this place pairing off and finding quiet alcoves for themselves," Mike added, "because, dude, that was hot."

Rachel blushed and, turning around, hit him in the arm. "Mike, you're a pervert!"

He shrugged. "I wasn't the one dry-humping in public. Nice hickey by the way, Rach."

When Rachel huffed in annoyance, Matt sighed. "Come on, we need to go get ready to leave."

He grabbed Mike's arm and dragged him away, lecturing him on decorum (Rachel had to wonder if she was rubbing off on him). Rachel and Brittany fell into step together behind them. Once Puck had calmed down sufficiently, he followed. Rachel threw a wink at him over her shoulder, and he promptly walked into a palm tree. As he cursed, Brittany grinned.

"Number three! You owe me ten more dollars!"

ooooo

After they had changed, they waited for the rest of their group to finish up and join them. Rachel was a little nervous when she came out of the locker room to stand next to Noah. She really wanted to hold his hand, but she wasn't sure if he'd be okay with that. Deciding she was sick and tired of doubting herself with him (_he'd said he loved her, how much more could she want?_), she slipped her hand into his. He didn't break in his conversation with Mike and Matt, merely tightened his hand around hers and laced their fingers together. Brittany drew her into a conversation about where they should all go for dinner when they got back to Lima and everything felt the same even as her and Noah's clasped hands were visible proof that something had changed.

Each time a fellow glee member joined them, they cast the same second glance at Puck and Rachel. None of them seemed very surprised though. Most just smiled or shook their heads. Tina joined them and stated that it was 'about time' while Artie nodded in agreement. Santana was obviously angry to see her ex with Rachel, but Quinn gave Rachel an approving smile before gazing longingly at Finn, whose nose was visibly swollen (he had taken one look at Puck and Rachel before turning resolutely away; Rachel figured they were going back to the previous standard of him avoiding her and she found that she was fine with that). Rachel thought she might have to sic Brittany on those two; they obviously belonged together. And once Britt set her mind on pairing two people up, it was going to happen even if they kicked and screamed the whole way (she and Noah were proof of that).

Mr. Schuester and Miss Pillsbury shared a baffled look upon seeing the two once-antagonists together, but didn't comment as they ushered the group out to the bus. As they walked through the parking lot, Rachel tilted her head to look at Noah.

"You're not a Lima loser, you know. I don't date Lima losers."

He smirked down at her. "Oh, so we're dating now Berry?"

"You can't tell me you love me and then not date me. Of course we're dating."

Noah appeared to consider her words. "I acquiesce to your generous offer of assistance." His smirk and tone gave the word assistance a whole new meaning.

Rachel recognized the words that she had used to accept his offer of swim lessons and fell into the banter easily. "English, Puckerman?"

"That means yes," he stated. "Does this mean we'll have sex soon?"

Rachel smiled suggestively up at him. "Maybe." (They would finally have sex two months later. And Noah Puckerman? Lasts a whole lot longer than two seconds and it's wonderful. Rachel considers it her true first time.)

"No more string bikinis in public Rach," he commanded very seriously. (She, of course, never again wore a swimsuit that wasn't a string bikini in public-it was just the type of relationship they had-and besides, jealous Noah? Super hot in bed.)

As Rachel, holding her boyfriend's hand behind her back, climbed up the steps onto the bus behind Brittany who gave a bubbly giggle in her direction at their banter before Mike and Matt pulled her down the aisle, Rachel thanked God for Mr. Schuester and his horrible ideas.


End file.
